School outing ends in tragedy as boy dies in raging torrent

The winds had dropped and an afternoon sunshine seared the lower reaches of Helvellyn yesterday. But in the sopping gorse and turf and the rivulets cascading down from the peak lay clues to the elemental extremes that had turned a 10-year-old boy's weekend Lake District outing to tragedy.

In the day before Max Palmer was swept from a flood-swollen mountain plunge pool to his death on Sunday morning, two inches of rain had lashed Helvellyn, a 3,116ft peak in Cumbria, which is England's third-highest.

The fountain of water that falls 10ft into the plunge pool above the tourist village of Glenridding quickly became a torrent, and a bitterly cold one at that. The more it rains, the colder the mountain waters become. They were in spate.

A knowledge of the inhospitable and wickedly changeable terrain led outdoor pursuits experts to voice astonishment yesterday that teachers had allowed Max anywhere near the pool, especially since most outdoor pursuit course leaders remain on tenterhooks about safety.

Only three months ago, an inquest into the death of two teenagers in Stainforth Beck, North Yorkshire, highlighted the dangers of "river walking" in swollen streams. It also illustrated the apparent anomaly of a statutory safety regime that does not require schools to hold licences to run outdoor pursuits trips.

There were murmurings back then about the wisdom of "river walking". Outdoor pursuits leaders say it should stay but that there should be a more stringent safety regime.

Max drowned in the water on Sunday shortly after 11.30am. He is believed to have followed two people into the pool at Greenside Beck, in the shadow of Helvellyn.He was swept away by the current, cast over rocks through a sharp right bend in the beck and down a 5ft incline. The beck washed him up 100ft away.

He died despite the best efforts of his mother, Patricia, 37, an educational support worker with Fleetwood High School in Lancashire, which was running the trip.

Mrs Palmer had taken her child with the party of 14 pupils and two other non-pupils whom she and two other adults were supervising on the weekend outdoor pursuits break. She was found, semi-conscious and hypothermic, at the side of the beck by a team of 18 mountain rescue workers, who were being trained less than 10 minutes away.

They winched her to safety and a waiting air ambulance, but her son was pronounced dead at the scene, despite the efforts of a passing doctor to save him.

A second child was treated for grazes to his leg and the rest of the Fleetwood party was taken back to its base camp, at the Greenhead Mines Hotel.

Patterdale mountain rescue services staff, who have seen their share of drama here, were palpably shaken by the age of the victim yesterday.

"When we got there, there were people on both sides of the beck. We found a lad by the side of the beck and unfortunately our team doctor pronounced him dead. Out hearts go out to his family," Dave Freeborn, the rescue team leader, said.

Cumbria police were trying to establish yesterday whether the party was simply out gorge-walking and had stopped to cool down ­ footpaths run on either side of the beck ­ or had sought out the plunge pool, a paradise for children with trees and rocks providing ready-made jumping off points.

Max's clothes ­ shorts, trainers and a T-shirt ­ suggested "he had been intending to have a dip", Mr Freeborn said. Whatever the intention, leaving the plunge pool would have been far more difficult than entering it from the surrounding trees.

The nearby Outward Bound Trust said the rain and wind chill on Sunday had meant it did not even consider taking another group of 14 to 17-year-olds anywhere near the beck. They opted instead for a day of rope exercises and problem-solving back at base.

One expert based in the Lakes said: "Coming so soon after the Stainforth incident, when the risks involved would be at the front of many parents' minds, it is incredible to believe that a risk of this sort would be taken. They should not have been there."

Roger Vincent of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said inland open waters such as becks were not safe and were the site of many drownings. "We would not like to see school trips banned but schools must look closely at what they are doing," he said.

Steve Howe, a national director of The Outward Bound Trust, said a complete risk assessment would have been imperative before approaching Greenside, into which water runs off Helvellyn.

"All you need is a cloudburst on Helvellyn and a huge volume of water would be funnelled into the beck," he said. "Given the prevailing conditions I would have taken an exceptionally close look at any activity which involved water." Risk assessments, which conclude whether helmets and buoyancy aids should be taken into the beck, must be made "hour by hour, minute by minute" and be based on the temperature of the water and "readiness of pupils", Mr Howe said.

Margaret Dudley, headteacher at Fleetwood High School, said that as a non-pupil Max was the responsibility of his mother and not the school. "He went along on the school trip with his mother, [but] when an accident like this happens it just shocks the whole school," said Mrs Dudley, who spoke to Mrs Palmer yesterday morning.

As police prepared to interview the the 14-year-old school pupils who were on the trip, Lancashire County Council said all of its schools were provided with government and education authority safety guidelines for such trips.

Max, a pupil at Shakespeare Primary School in Fleetwood, was described by his deputy headteacher, Carolyn Thackway, as a "model pupil" with a fine sense of humour. "Max was a very, very popular boy who was very clever," she said. "All the teachers enjoyed having him in their class. He had lots of friends and also enjoyed sport, especially football. Max was an all-rounder with a wonderful personality."

The child's father, Mark, has travelled from Fleetwood on the Fylde peninsula to be with his wife. The couple also have another son, Nick, who is 17.

The tragedy comes 20 months after Hannah Black, 13, and Rochelle Cauvet, 14, died after they lost their footing and were swept to their death at Stainforth Beck in North Yorkshire. In March, a coroner called for a review of the way outdoor trips were organised.

Yesterday, Mr Howe reiterated the concern that schools were not compelled to secure the same Adventurous Activities Licensing Authority approval as most other outdoor activity groups. "It would appear to be an anomaly that there could be two groups on the same day doing the same activity, one with a licence, one without," he said.