Sister’s heartbreaking tribute to ‘darling’ teen boy, 16, who was found dead in canal on hottest day of the year
A TRAGIC teen who died in a canal on the hottest day of the year has been named locally.
Preston McNally, 16, was pulled from the Leeds-Liverpool Canal in Burnley, Lancs., on Saturday evening.
Emergency services were called at 4.20pm on Saturday afternoon, sparking a frantic search for the teenager.
But it ended in tragedy when his body was recovered from the water just before 7.20pm.
Paying tribute on social media, a heartbroken family member described him as someone who made ‘every person laugh.’
The distraught relative said: “Oh my darling boy. My heart is broken.
“You didn’t deserve this and our family didn’t deserve this.
“You were so loved and you made every person laugh so much.
“It was only days ago you chipped your front tooth (I’ve heard you still had 4 girls around you).
“I am so sorry you have been taken from us, I’m sorry for us all but especially your mum and dad and my dad too.
“Your sisters, your aunties, your cousins, your nannies, we’re all going to miss you so much.
“My heart aches and I don’t know how we will ever come to terms with losing you.
“Forever 16 and forever in our hearts. Love you always.”
Other grieving relatives said their ‘world has crashed down into a million pieces’ after his tragic death.
One posted: “Yesterday we lost someone who was loved by so many.
“Our sweet squishy faced blue eyed boy, he was the bane of our lives.
“Words cannot comprehend how we are all feeling as a family, we are devastated, empty and just like that over night our world has crashed down into a million pieces.”
Another said: “There will only ever be one Preston McNally.”
His death comes as the Met Office confirmed the UK had a seventh consecutive day of 30C heat on Sunday – the longest September heatwave on record.
Saturday was officially the hottest day of the year so far, with a temperature of 32.7C recorded at Heathrow.
Sunday became the seventh consecutive day of 30 degree weather in the UK with 32.5C recorded in Cambridge.