Police believe they have recovered the body of teenager Grace Keeling after she was swept out to sea at New Year – bringing a two-week search for answers to an agonising end.
The 15-year-old was pulled into the water at Withernsea Beach in East Riding of Yorkshire on January 2 while wave-watching with her mother Sarah Keeling, 45.
Alongside Good Samaritan Mark Ratcliffe, 67, Sarah waded into the water to help. Both killed after being swept out to sea by waves more than 10 feet high.
Their bodies were found within hours – but difficult weather conditions delayed the recovery of Grace’s body until the end of last week.
Humberside Police, which is leading the investigation into the triple tragedy, said it found her on Thursday January 15 – and was finally able to bring her back to land on Saturday morning.
Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said: ‘This was a deeply upsetting incident, and I cannot begin to understand the heartbreak felt by all the loved ones of those involved.
‘We have spoken with Grace’s family and updated them, and we are continuing to support them with specially trained officers at this extremely difficult time.’
The force said Grace’s body was discovered at 8.30am on Thursday – but that it was not safe to recover her body until after high tide on Saturday morning.
Coastguard and fire service workers, together with specialist support, worked to recover her. Formal identification is yet to take place.
It has been previously reported that Grace and a friend had been standing on steps near rocks on the beach when she was swept up by a wave and carried into the water.
An inquest into the deaths of Sarah Keeling and Mr Ratcliffe was opened last week.
It heard that the mother, who was born in Germany, died of drowning, contributed to by head and neck injuries, while Mr Ratcliffe’s primary cause of death was drowning, with chest injuries a contributory factor.
The hearing was told that Mrs Keeling had been married and worked in international sales; Mr Ratcliffe, of Withernsea, was a retired warehouse manager.
Eyewitness Richard Shaw, 68, said he had heard Grace and her mother screaming as the youngster floundered in the huge waves on January 2.
He recalled trying to throw a lifebelt to Mrs Keeling as struggled to help her daughter before being knocked off balance by a large wave – at which point he sat against the wall and cried, knowing he ‘couldn’t do any more’.
‘I was immensely sad. I knew she’d gone. If she could have been magically retrieved from that water, she could have probably been saved,’ he said earlier this month.
‘I knew the mother could not be stopped from attempting to save her, and it was just immensely sad knowing that.
‘This is an impossible situation. The sea is in charge here, and we are not.’
Mr Shaw, who lost his own father as he tried to rescue the family dog from waves off of New Brighton, added of Mr Ratcliffe: ‘I had a glimpse of this other man trying to help, who had been swept by the waves.
‘I then got hit by another wave, and a third wave then hit me very heavily and washed me to the right to the bottom of the ramp, and I decided there’s nothing I can do here apart from either get out or lose my life.
‘I did not know any of them personally, but it is a terrible situation. They did their best in such a terrific situation. My thoughts are with their families.’
