http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_2044000/2044548.s tm
Briton drowns during adventure trip
A 24-year-old man has drowned during a French canyoning holiday with friends. Vikram Reddy died near the town of Tourrett-sur-Loup, 40 miles from Cannes, on Wednesday.
The victim, believed to be a law student from Maidstone, Kent, was canyoning.
The sport involves being swept along rocky mountain streams and abseiling down waterfalls.
‘Lust for life’
Mr Reddy was believed to have been wearing a crash helmet and wet suit at the time of the accident.
The Daily Mail newspaper reports his friends watched him jump from a 40ft boulder into the River Loup before being swept on to rocks.
He was on the adventure trip with six other friends, two believed to be Britons and four French.
A relative described Mr Reddy as “popular” with a “real lust for life”.
His family are preparing to have his body flown home.
Capitaine Henri Souverain, of the Bar-du-Loup gendarmerie told the Daily Mail: “He was sucked under and then reappeared and was thrown on to rocks where he hit his head hard and appeared to be struggling.
“His friends tried to reach him but he was swept away by the current and finally vanished in a strong eddy.”
Mr Reddy’s body is understood to have been recovered from the river by divers and flown by helicopter to hospital in Grasse.
Local French police have launched an inquiry into his death.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman confirmed that the accident had taken place.
“Consular officials stand ready to provide any assistance required by the family,” she said.
The sport has claimed the lives of Britons before, including 21 people who died during a canyoning adventure in Switzerland three years ago.
Mike dallin@on-line.com