Tourist describes 'lovely scene' before accident which killed 12-year-old from Hull

A tourist who was taking a picture of the "lovely scene" of children playing on a pontoon during a school trip has told of her shock when she saw them fall into the water.

Twelve-year-old schoolgirl Jessica Lawson was pulled from the lake at an activity resort in France on Tuesday but died the next day.

She was one of 24 students from Wolfreton School in Hull on the visit to the Club Correze adventure centre in Meymac on a trip which included chances to kayak, sail, mountain bike and go climbing.

Her family have travelled to France to bring their "most beautiful and outgoing girl" back home to the UK.

A Dutch tourist who was photographing the scene said the tragedy had been "a sad accident".

Emma Huismans told The Sun: "I was at the bar looking out on to the lake and it was a beautiful sunny day.

"I saw lots of children on the pontoon and took a picture because it was a lovely scene. A few minutes later there were more children then all of a sudden it flipped over."

Ms Huismans said the incident happened "very quickly" and described how she saw a girl being pulled out of the water 90 seconds later by a lifeguard.

Jessica's father Antony, who paid tribute to his "beautiful loving and kind daughter", shared a short video clip online of the schoolgirl dancing in a kitchen while being followed around by a white dog. He captioned it : "50 seconds of joy that is Jess".

French authorities are investigating the circumstances around the incident, reportedly looking into whether it was an accident or if there was a lack of vigilance among the supervisors at the centre.

The trip was run by the Activ4 tour operator who said they were, together with the owners of the activity centre, working with the local authority and the school to provide any necessary support and assistance.

Jean Valade, the mayor of Liginiac, where the incident took place, said: "The inquiry will look into the cause. It's been 30 years this centre has been open and we've never had an accident like this happen here."

Flowers have been left at Wolfreton School's gates in memory of Jessica.