British woman, 19, feared dead near The Hague in beach tragedy; 3 rescued also from UK
Police identified a swimmer who went missing at the coast near The Hague on Sunday evening as a 19-year-old woman from the United Kingdom. She was one of four British people who found themselves in difficulty after they went into the sea near the Zuidelijk Havenhoofd at about 8:30 p.m. Emergency workers still trying to find the woman along the shoreline in the Scheveningen district said it is unlikely she is alive.
#VRPress | 26-08-2024 | Den Haag - Op maandagochtend 26 augustus speuren de medewerkers van de reddingsbrigade de havenhoofden op Scheveningen af. Ook zoekt de reddingsbrigade met een jetski langs de blokken van de havenhoofden. Ook zijn er een vlieg... https://t.co/diVWpRfxK8 pic.twitter.com/XNCbgtbl44
— VRPress (@vr_fotografie) August 26, 2024
Police told the broadcaster Omroep West on Monday that the three who were rescued were all from the United Kingdom, and "about the same age" as the missing person. Two of them had tried in vain to rescue the woman, and appeared to be young-looking men or boys who were injured when they were removed from the water, a witness told Omroep West a day earlier.
“They both had legs covered in blood. There was also a mother there who was panicking and screaming." Despite their best efforts, the young men could not get close enough to save the woman. “The water was so wild, really impassable. Those boys barely survived.”
Emergency services workers responded to the North Sea coast near the rocky pier that forms the harbor and marina that separates the Kijkduin and Scheveningen Beaches in The Hague. Search crews in helicopters, airplanes and boats continued their efforts until it became too dark, but continued to monitor the shoreline.
The British woman was still missing as of 4:15 p.m. on Monday. The search crews were focused on trying to recover the woman's body, with the Haaglanden emergency services office telling Omroep West that this is no longer a rescue operation.
A barricade set up near the Zuidelijk Havenhoofd was blocking access to the pier. Police, firefighters and other emergency workers set up a staging area at the location, and were still present at the end of Monday afternoon.
