A Walthamstow father on holiday in Spain has tragically drowned trying to save his 10-year-old daughter, after the pair got into difficulty while swimming.

The man, named locally as Reece Bryan Morris, 40, died at the resort of Torrox, near Malaga on Sunday afternoon (August 21).

Mr Morris and his daughter had reportedly been swimming in the sea, before a strong current forced them into trouble.

Around a dozen onlookers rushed to try and save the pair, after they were seen being dragged towards rocks.

Rescuers were able to get the girl to safety on the rocks and stayed nearby, until lifeguards reached the scene and were able to pull Mr Morris from the water.

Witnesses said he initially appeared to have escaped the incident unscathed, but suffered what is believed to be a heart attack shortly after being helped out of the sea.

Samuel Pozo, 35, who dived into the water to help the pair, told a local Malaga newspaper: “When I looked back at the man, he was still in the water and did not seem too bad.

“He was not talking and he had tried to stop his daughter drowning."

"When they got the man out, he had not swallowed a lot of water or anything but they could not revive him.

“It seems like he might have suffered a heart attack trying to save his daughter."

A post-mortem was due to take place in Spain on Monday.

A spokesman for the Foreign Office said: “We are providing assistance to the family of a British national who died off the coast of Malaga on August 21.”

Mr Morris’s death is the 12th fatal drowning-related incident to have taken place on a beach in Malaga this summer.