Flowers have been laid on Burnham-On-Sea’s sea wall this week in memory of Dylan Cecil, a four year-old boy who died nine years ago after being swept from the town’s jetty.
Flowers, cards and balloons were laid by the family next to a plaque that was installed in his memory on Burnham’s South Esplanade, as pictured here.
Burnham’s marine rescue crews were called out on August 19th, 2012 at 6pm following reports of a young boy in the water next to Burnham’s jetty.
The Cecil family were in the area visiting family and had decided to go for a trip to the beach when tragedy struck. Tragically, while he was playing in the shallow water on the jetty, four-year-old Dylan slipped and fell into the sea.
His mother and father attempted to rescue him by jumping into the water and also nearly became victims of the strong incoming tidal currents. Within seconds, Dylan had been carried out to sea.
Burnham’s Coastguards, RNLI and BARB crewmembers undertook a full-scale search in an attempt to find him until Dylan’s body was sadly found washed up by a walker near the yacht club on August 23rd, 2012.
There have been calls for further improvements to safety on the jetty over the past couple of years after several incidents in which people got into difficulty. We reported here that over 1,000 people had signed a petition seeking improvements. In May last year, a photographer captured the moment a boy was saved from water next to Burnham jetty.
