A fisherman died despite heroic efforts to save him after his dinghy capsized.
Onlookers saw the small boat overturn throwing two men into the water off the coast of Tynemouth, North Tyneside.
The pair, aged 45 and 34, who had been fishing, were in the water for 20 minutes before being pulled out by members of Tynemouth Volunteer and Inshore Life Brigade.
Both were suffering from severe hypothermia and the older man was given cardio-pulmonary rescuscitation after he stopped breathing.
He was taken to North Tyneside General Hospital but his life-support machine was switched off.
David Stenhouse, from Tynemouth Inshore Life Brigade, said: "The sea would have been about ten degrees but with the cold it would have felt like minus ten. That sort of cold can drain all the heat from your body within five or ten minutes. The sea was fairly choppy yesterday and it would only have taken one slightly bigger wave to capsize the inflatable."
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