A 10-year-old North Yorkshire girl has died in a mudslide.
According to a statement posted on North Yorkshire Police’s website, authorities responded to a distress call on Wednesday, May 22, at approximately 1:15 p.m. local time from a village Carlton-in-Cleveland, after which they confirmed that “one person had sadly died,” and “no one else was injured.”
Leah Harrison, a Year 6 pupil at Mount Pleasant Primary School in Darlington was taking an educational forest walk organised by her school at Carlton Adventure when the incident took place, BBC News reported. Leah is said to have been one of the several students on the educational trip following their SAT exams that happened in the previous week. A North Yorkshire Police release contained tributes paid by Leah’s family to their daughter. The statement read, “You will never ever be forgotten baby girl.” It continued, “Leah Harrison, the happy, bubbly, go-lucky little girl,” adding, “The beautiful smile, the giddy laugh, the silly jokes.”
Leah’s family statement further highlighted her love of England women’s national soccer team, which read, “You will achieve your dream and become a player for the Lionesses,” adding, “Spread those wings. May you rest in paradise.”
Leah’s light-hearted aura and kind-heartedness even moved her school authorities and they too were left heartbroken after her sudden demise. Nick Blackburn, the chief executive of her school paid his condolences to her family and friends and arranged grief processing sessions at school, as per BBC. He said, “Leah was a much-loved part of our school and our thoughts and prayers are with her family, friends, and the school staff. Counseling is being arranged within the school for pupils and staff.” Blackburn further said, “We are all in a state of shock and we would ask that the privacy of the family and the school community is respected while we try to come to terms with what has happened.”
The Cleveland Mountain Rescue Team (MRT) confirmed to BBC that it sent around 30 volunteers to rescue Leah, and worked alongside police, fire, and ambulance responders to rescue Leah. BBC Yorkshire climate correspondent Paul Hudson reported that Loftus, which is around 20 miles from where Leah passed away saw a high amount of rainfall 12 hours before the incident took place.