A sudden and violent rip current may have been the cause of a tragedy at a Northern Ireland beach in which one woman drowned, an expert has said.
Two women, part of a group of experienced cold water sea swimmers, got into difficulty off Ballycastle on the North Coast in Co Antrim yesterday morning (Monday 9 December).
One of the women died in the incident, and was later named as local community midwife Deirdre McShane. The other was taken to Causeway Hospital in Coleraine with suspected hypothermia.
Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph, physiology expert Professor Mike Tipton of the University of Portsmouth suggested that experienced cold water swimmers are unlikely to put themselves in danger — meaning that a sudden rip current could have taken the two victims by surprise.
The Belfast Telegraph has more on the story HERE.
