Gower sea death: Sam Capper, 15, 'held by brother'

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Sam Capper
Image caption,
Sam Capper was "incredibly loving", said his mother in a tribute

The family of a teenage boy who died after falling off rocks into the sea while fishing have said they take comfort in knowing his older brother "held him tightly" in his last moments.

Sam Capper, 15, from Birkenhead, was fishing with his brother and two friends at Blue Pool corner near Llangennith, Gower on Wednesday.

His brother, Lewis, 21, tried to save him and held him until help arrived.

But despite being airlifted to hospital in Swansea, Sam died.

South Wales Police issued a statement on behalf of his mother Leah Hunt and his brother Lewis Hunt - who has since been released from hospital.

"Our only consolation in this terrible tragedy is that, at the end, Sam wasn't on his own - Lewis was with him, holding on to him tightly," the statement read.

'Huge fan'

"He was incredibly loving and was so supportive and proud of us in our careers with British Transport Police and the Royal Navy, though he didn't want to go into uniform service himself, he wanted to be an accountant.

"He loved his brothers and sisters and spent most of his time - when he wasn't thinking about football - trying to help people and make people smile.

"He was a huge fan of Tranmere Rovers, though he also liked Arsenal - which caused a bit of good-natured rivalry with Lewis who supports Liverpool."

Det Insp David Hough from South Wales Police said: "This was a very tragic incident and our thoughts are with the family at this sad time."

The alarm was raised at 20:00 BST when a third member of the group ran to a nearby beach and used a walker's mobile phone.

A fourth person kept watch over the brothers until help arrived.

Swansea Coastguard, Rhossili Coastguard, the Loughor Inshore Rescue Lifeboat, Burry Port RNLI inshore lifeboat and the Tenby RNLI and a rescue helicopter all attended.

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