Foreign Office names British teenager feared drowned off French coast

Kieran Knight, 16, was on holiday with his family in the Landes region near Bordeaux

The coast at Messanges, Landes, was described as potentially 'extremely dangerous' (GOOGLE)

A British teenager who went missing while swimming in the sea on holiday in France has been named as Kieran Knight.

The 16-year-old is believed to have drowned after he got caught by a strong undercurrent and was unable to make it back to the shore.

Kieran was swimming with his father at the time, off the Atlantic coast near Messanges, in the south-west region of Landes.

The Foreign Office issued a statement on behalf of the boy’s family, asking for “privacy at this time to come to terms with this tragic event concerning their much-loved son”.

It said that despite extensive and “ongoing” searches by the French authorities since Kieran went missing on Wednesday, he had not been found.

Three helicopters and a patrol boat were deployed in the search shortly after the boy was seen disappearing under the waves, but they could not locate him.

The seas on the coast south of Bordeaux can be "extremely dangerous", the coastguard said.