TWO British women have drowned off the south coast of Tenerife after being rescued from the sea, according to emergency services in Spain.
They have been identified as Dr Barathi Ravikumar, 39, from Bracebridge Heath in Lincolnshire and Dr Uma Ramalingam, 42, from Altrincham, Cheshire.
The women are said to have been on holiday with their husands and children in the Playa Paraíso area of the Las Americas resort in Adeje, with a third woman, and are all reported to be members of the same extended British family of Indian descent.
All five were standing on the rocks above Playa Paraíso when a sudden high wave swept them into the water, and it is thought Uma and Barathi died trying to save the children, aged 10 and 14.
Coastguard rescuers sent out a helicopter after receiving calls alerting of five people who had got themselves into difficulties in the water, two of whom were children.
In the meantime, however, other bathers managed to pull the children and two of the women out of the sea.
The third woman, who was further out from the shore, was air-lifted to dry land.
Dr Ravikumar and Dr Ramalingam showed no pulse or signs of breathing, and despite every effort by paramedics to revive them, they were pronounced dead at the scene.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com