A TEENAGER attempting to jump across a lock on the Red Bull Flight on the Trent & Mersey Canal, failed to reach the other side, hitting his head on the lock side and drowning.
Nineteen years old Mike Sutton was walking by the locks with his girlfriend Danielle, when he decided to attempt to jump across one of the locks, that was empty at the time.
Told not to jump
Danielle told him not to try and jump it, but he still went ahead, but failed to reach the other side of the 8ft space, hitting his head and falling into the water. For though officially narrow locks are 7ft they are 8ft at the top.
She immediately called the emergency services upon seeing Mike fall in, but it was in vain, for despite the paramedics' efforts, he was pronounced dead at University Hospital of North Staffordshire.
This is the second death of a teenager at a lock, with the one attempting to cycle across a very narrow boaters' bridge at Stourport, and also falling in and drowning.