Brit dies in Turkey rafting tragedy (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Brit dies in Turkey rafting tragedy

6:25pm Friday 30th July 2010 in National News © Press Association 2011

A British schoolgirl has died in a white water rafting tragedy on holiday in Turkey, it has emerged.

The nine-year-old, named locally as Cerys Potter, of Llancarfan, Vale of Glamorgan, south Wales, died on Wednesday.

She was white water rafting on Lake Koygeyiz, close to the Dalyan region in southern Turkey, when tragedy struck.

The Foreign Office confirmed that a British schoolgirl had died in a rafting accident in southern Turkey.

Staff, pupils and parents at the small Llancarfan Primary School in the village of Llancarfan were said to be "devastated" by the tragedy.

Jill Davies, chair of school governors, said counselling services had already been set up to help those affected by the tragedy.

"It is a small school. We are a very close-knit community and the whole school is completely devastated by this news," she said on Friday.

"It has touched the whole school and every pupil. Our sympathy is clearly with the family. We have already set up counselling services for children, parents or staff who need it."

She said that the schoolgirl has a 13-year-old brother, James, who attends Cowbridge Comprehensive School.

It is understood that the mother and brother were both on the holiday but that their father did not attend.