A 34-year-old British woman has died tragically after trying to swim across the English Channel to raise money for a charity.
Susan Taylor, accountant from Barwell, Leicestershire, got into "serious difficulties" in one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world as she approached France yesterday.
"Whilst attempting to swim the English Channel yesterday my sister, Susan collapsed suddenly in the water. She was immediately recovered from the water and treated on the support boat," Susan's sister posted on her Facebook page.
She wrote that Susan was air lifted by helicopter to a hospital in Boulonge where she passed away.
Susan was raising money for charities Diabetes UK and the Rainbows Children's Hospice in Loughborough, The Sun reported.
Since the news about her death broke out, the balance on Susan's charity page has more than doubled to just over 5,000 pounds.
"She was swimming from Britain, and was well-supported," the paper quoted a police source as saying.
Officials in the UK had authorised a number of charity swimmers to cross the Channel yesterday.
According to the report France does not allow such swims from its own side of the Channel because of the dangers posed by shipping, as well as dangerous currents and changing weather conditions.
Channel swimming is an extreme sport yet until yesterday only seven people had died since 1875.
