TWO British women have drowned off the south coast of Tenerife after being rescued from the sea, according to emergency services in Spain.
They have been identified as Dr Barathi Ravikumar, 39, from Bracebridge Heath in Lincolnshire and Dr Uma Ramalingam, 42, from Altrincham, Cheshire.
The women are said to have been on holiday with their husands and children in the Playa Paraíso area of the Las Americas resort in Adeje, with a third woman, and are all reported to be members of the same extended British family of Indian descent.
All five were standing on the rocks above Playa Paraíso when a sudden high wave swept them into the water, and it is thought Uma and Barathi died trying to save the children, aged 10 and 14.
Coastguard rescuers sent out a helicopter after receiving calls alerting of five people who had got themselves into difficulties in the water, two of whom were children.
In the meantime, however, other bathers managed to pull the children and two of the women out of the sea.
The third woman, who was further out from the shore, was air-lifted to dry land.
Dr Ravikumar and Dr Ramalingam showed no pulse or signs of breathing, and despite every effort by paramedics to revive them, they were pronounced dead at the scene.
The other woman, whose identity has not yet been revealed, was admitted to hospital with water on the lungs, but her life is not said to be in danger.
One of the children, said to be both boys, suffered a hypoglycaemic attack and hypothermia, and the other sustained severe bruising, but they were both discharged later.
Officials say the family is receiving Consular assistance.
Dr Ramalingam was an obstetrician working in several hospitals in the Pennine Acute Hospital Trust catchment area, having registered as a doctor in Britain in 2003 and graduated in medicine at the Tamil Nadu Medical University in Chennai, India, in 1994.
Her colleagues said she was a 'fantastic' doctor who 'brought a lot of hope' to high-risk women attending the specialist pregnancy unit at Oldham Hospital, Greater Manchester, one of at least three different centres she worked with over her six years with Pennine Acute Hospital Trust.
Dr Barathi Ravikumar, a GP, was made a partner at the practice in her home town in Lincolnshire in 2012, just a year after she started working there.
Colleagues describe her as 'hard-working', 'dedicated', 'passionate about making a difference in healthcare' in the county and who 'always worked with her patients' best interests at heart'.
