A BURY firefighter lost his life needlessly attempting to recover a dead body from a dangerous lodge, an inquest heard.

On the first day of the hearing into the death of sub-officer Paul Metcalf and teenager Reyaz Ali, witness Geoffrey Unsworth said he had pulled stricken youngsters from the murky depths of Simon's Lodge before, as it was regularly used as a swimming pool during warm weather.

He expressed his dismay as to why the fire brigade launched a major rescue operation to find the 15-year-old student despite his body being reported submerged under the water for more than 30 minutes.

Full report in Lodge Watch on our left link