Hero father, 30, drowned while saving his three-year-old son’s life after they were swept out to sea by riptide, inquest hears
- David Cole drowned while holding his three-year-old son’s head above water
A heroic father drowned while saving his three-year-old son’s life after they were swept out to sea by a riptide, an inquest has heard.
David Cole, 30, was paddling with his three-year-old son at a beach in West Mersea, Essex, on June 11 when they were dragged out to sea.
Mr Cole drowned while saving his son’s life by holding his head above the water.
An inquest opened and adjourned at Essex Coroner’s Court this morning heard Mr Cole was airlifted to Colchester Hospital.
Area coroner Michelle Brown said: ‘Resuscitation was stopped after discussion with the hospital team and he sadly passed away.
David Cole, 30, (pictured with his partner Katie Macdonald and children) was paddling with his three-year-old son at a beach in West Mersea, Essex, on June 11 when they were dragged out to sea
Mr Cole drowned while saving his son’s life by holding his head above the water, an inquest heard
‘Police have confirmed they are satisfied there was no third party involvement.’
Ms Brown said a post-mortem examination determined Mr Cole’s provisional cause of death was drowning.
Mr Cole’s partner Katie Macdonald launched a fundraiser in aid of the RNLI crew at West Mersea Lifeboat Station who pulled her loved ones from the water, which has since raised more than £7,000.
Ms Macdonald, 27, was on the beach with the couple’s other son, aged one, at the time of the incident.
She previously said: ‘Not being able to do anything, feeling helpless, was so hard – it was horrible.
‘One moment David was right in front of me with the water only around his waist.
‘But then in a flash a riptide swept him out to sea and he was in a lot of trouble.’
A paddleboarder and two lifeguards were the first to try to help the father and son before the RNLI crew at Southend arrived just minutes later.
Paying tribute to her partner, Ms Macdonald said he was ‘the best dad ever’ who ‘only wanted to have fun with the kids’.
She added: ‘He’s a hero. A hero in the sense he put his son before himself and saved his son’s life.’
Rick Boreham, lifeboat operations manager at West Mersea RNLI, said Ms Macdonald ‘will receive a warm welcome’ from the crew in recognition of her fundraiser.
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