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Photo: CLEMENT-MANTION Pierre-Olivier / IMAGO
A five-year-old girl who was carried away on a swim ring has drowned in a large lake on France's Mediterranean coast near Marseille.
Although alerted rescuers could have rescued the girl from the water on Tuesday evening, attempts at resuscitation were unsuccessful, the police said.
A second three-year-old girl, who was also clinging to the swim ring, was rescued from the Étang de Berre near Marignane, responsive but hypothermic.
The lake borders directly on the sea.
As the newspaper La Provence reported, the ring with the children who had been driven away overturned.
The firefighters who arrived first jumped into the water and swam 500 meters to save the three-year-old.
A diver located the older child later from a helicopter about a kilometer from the shore.
Help came too late for the girl.
lmd/dpa
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