Tragic death of man at north coast beach - tribute paid to 'two people who pulled him from the water and carried out CPR'

In a statement MLA for the area, Cara Hunter, said she wanted to “offer her condolences to the family and friends of the man who died in Portrush yesterday evening”.

The SDLP representative said: “This is a tragic loss of life and my thoughts are very much with this man’s family at this incredibly difficult time. I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to lose a loved one in such circumstances.

"I would also like to pay tribute to the two members of the public who entered the water and brought the man back to shore and all the emergency services who responded to this incident."

Police said they were asked to respond to a request for assistance from HM Coastguard at West Strand beach, Portrush just after 8.20pm yesterday.

They said that a man was recovered from the water and taken to hospital by police and colleagues from Northern Ireland Ambulance Service.Local Policing Inspector Brogan said: “Sadly, the man was later pronounced dead.“I would like to take this opportunity to commend two members of the public for their quick-thinking last night.

"Having seen the man in the water, they pulled him to shore on a surfboard, carrying out CPR as they did so.

" I want to thank them for their heroic actions, and the wider community for their support of emergency services at the scene.”He added that the death is not being treated as suspicious at this time.

A post from RNLI Portrush on social media said: “Both Portrush RNLI’s inshore and all-weather lifeboats launched yesterday evening (Sunday 3 September) following a report from Belfast Coastguard shortly after 8pm that a person was in difficulty in the water near Blackrock.

"The casualty was assisted to shore by surfers. The inshore lifeboat crew assisted the surfers with casualty care while the all-weather lifeboat stood by.

"The casualty was subsequently handed into the care of an ambulance crew on arrival and transferred to hospital.

"Well done to the members of the public who responded so professionally to the incident.

"Unfortunately it has since been confirmed that despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the man has passed away.

"Everyone at Portrush Lifeboat sends sincere condolences to the man’s family and friends.”