A five-year-old girl died after being recovered from the sea at Durdle Door.

Police said at around 11.30am today, Wednesday, HM Coastguard received reports of a child and a woman in distress in the water at Durdle Door.

The woman was rescued from the water by a member of the public. A Ministry of Defence military range safety vessel, which was in the area and responded to a Mayday broadcast, recovered the girl from the water.

The five-year-old girl, from Salisbury, was taken by the RNLI Weymouth Lifeboat to Weymouth and transferred by the ambulance service to Dorset County Hospital, where she was sadly pronounced dead.

Detective Inspector Steve May, of Dorset Police, said: “Our thoughts are with the family of the young girl involved at this very difficult time.

"At this time there is nothing to suggest this was anything other than a tragic accident however, with the sudden death of any child we have an obligation to carry out an investigation to establish the full circumstances of what happened.

“I am appealing to anyone who witnessed how the girl came to be in the water and has not already spoken to police to contact us immediately.

“There were also a number of visitors in the area at the time and I am appealing to anyone who may have filmed or photographed the incident to please get in touch as it may assist our investigation.”

HM Coastguard said in a statement:

"Just before 11.30am today (18 April) HM Coastguard received multiple 999 calls from members of the public reporting a child and a woman in distress in the water at Durdle Door.

"HM Coastguard immediately issued a Mayday relay broadcast to all vessels in the area.  A MOD military range safety vessel responded and was almost immediately on scene.  The adult casualty was rescued by a member of the public and the child casualty was recovered from the water by the MOD vessel. 

"Lulworth and Wyke Coastguard Rescue Teams, Weymouth RNLI Lifeboat, HM Coastguard Lee-on-Solent SAR helicopter, Dorset Police, South West Ambulance Service along with their helimed were all sent to the scene.

"The child was brought ashore by the RNLI Weymouth Lifeboat and was transferred into the care of South West Ambulance Service and taken to Dorchester Hospital."

A spokesman for the Lulworth Estate, which runs the area, said the beach had been closed on the order of the emergency services at around 2 pm, and had been reopened at around 4.30 pm. The spokesman added that the police, coastguard and Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) had all scrambled to the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dorset Police at www.dorset.police.uk, via email 101@dorset.pnn.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting incident number 18:127.