Ardrossan reservoir deaths after failed rescue

a MAN has drowned along with the teenage friend he was trying to save after a friends’ fishing trip at an Ayrshire reservoir went tragically wrong.

Ross Munn and Sean Marshall. Picture: submitted

The bodies of Sean Marshall, 20, from Saltcoats, and Ross Munn, 17, from Ardrossan, were recovered on Tuesday from Mill Glen Reservoir, near Ardrossan, following the incident on Monday night.

The pair are understood to have been among a group who had gone to the disused reservoir when Mr Munn got into difficulty in the water at around 8pm.

Others ran to a nearby farmhouse to raise the alarm.

Flowers are left at Mill Glen Reservoir near Ardrossan. Picture: PA

Police said the reservoir was 27ft deep in places.

One of Mr Marshall’s neighbours said: “Sean was so full of life and would help anyone.

“I heard there was a group of five or six of them up at the dam.

“Supposedly, they had spent the day up there fishing.

Picture: PA

“One of the boys went in swimming and got into bother, so Sean jumped in to try and help him.

“The group of friends got help but it must have been too late.

“The dam is a popular spot for the kids to hang about, but this just proves how dangerous it is up there.”

Police divers found the two bodies shortly before midnight on Monday following a four-hour search which had also involved around ten firefighters, Coastguard staff and a police helicopter.

Two fire and rescue crews from Ardrossan and Ayr went to the scene, along with a Zodiac water rescue boat from Ayr.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Emergency services were called to Mill Dam

at Mill Farm in Ardrossan after receiving reports of the two young men entering the water and failing to surface.”

She said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident and a report would be sent to the procurator-fiscal.

Mill Glen is a small reservoir with an earth embankment dam about one mile north of Ardrossan. It is owned by Scottish

Water, which previously used it as a water source.

Superintendent Neil Kerr of Police Scotland warned of the dangers of swimming in open water during warm weather.

He said: “It may look calm on the surface, but there may be strong undercurrents.

“The water can also be very cold and deep, and there are often sudden drops and underwater obstacles and undergrowth that you cannot see, causing even the strongest of swimmers to get into difficulty very easily.”