A HEARTBROKEN father has spoken of his anguish after his seven-year-old son died following an accident at a North-East swimming pool.

Anthony Armstrong was pulled unconscious from the wave pool at the Wet 'n' Wild waterpark in North Shields, North Tyneside, on Friday evening.

The water in the wave pool is whipped up by a wave-generating machine but it is not known whether it was on at the time.

Anthony, from Gateshead, was treated on the spot by the centre's lifeguards before being taken to hospital.

He died on Sunday, at Newcastle General Hospital, without regaining consciousness.

His parents, Alan and Deborah, were yesterday preparing to say their final goodbyes to their son.

Speaking from the family's terraced home in High Spen, near Gateshead, Mr Armstrong said: "It is very, very hard to come to terms with what has happened.

"I am going to see him in the chapel of rest today and maybe then things may start to sink in a little. It is terrible - words cannot describe how bad we feel at the moment."

It is thought that seven-year-old Anthony may have struck his head before being found unconscious in the wave pool.

Stuart Turnbull, duty manager of Wet 'n' Wild, said: "We are deeply shocked by this incident and our thoughts are with the family of the dead boy.

"We are holding an investigation into the incident in the wave pool."

He confirmed the boy had been found unconscious, but said he could not comment further because of the investigation which is taking place.

North Tyneside Borough Council's environmental health division has launched its own investigation.

A mother-of-two, from North Shields, North Tyneside, who saw the tragedy unfold, said that the pool remained open after the incident

She said: "I saw all the crowds and wondered what was going on. Then I saw a young lad on the floor and lifeguards around him."

"Some of the lifeguards were trying to keep people back and others were trying to resuscitate him with mouth to mouth and CPR.

"They handled what was a very upsetting situation extremely well, but I was amazed that the pool was not closed afterwards.