A 16-year-old boy from Dunmow has died after the car he was travelling in plunged into a water-filled ditch in Lincolnshire.

Police said that a silver Citroen Xsara Picasso went into the water at Midville Road, Stickney, near Boston shortly before 8pm on Thursday.

A two-year-old girl and three others escaped with minor injuries and shock.

Officers swam to the vehicle and freed the trapped teenager but the boy later died at Boston’s Pilgrim Hospital.

The driver of the car, a 39-year-old woman, her two-year-old daughter and two boys aged 15 and 14 were also from Dunmow and were taken to the same hospital for treatment.

It is believed that the toddler was to be transferred to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham for further treatment.

Police and fire crews winched the car out of the water and the fire service’s swift water rescue team did a thorough search to ensure no other people were in the ditch.

Police have appealed for any witnesses to come forward.

Insp Gordon Richard from the force command and control centre, said: “It was a gallant effort by the officer to rescue this young boy and it is a tragedy that despite the efforts of all the emergency service responders he died later in hospital.”

Anyone with information should call the witness hotline on 01522 558855 or the police non-emergency number 0300 111 0300.