A NORTH-EAST canoe instructor who died after capsizing on a Cumbrian river was last night described as a “lovely lad, who lived life to the full”.

Grant Kinnie, 24, from Darlington, died in hospital following the incident on a stretch of the River Eamont, two miles south-east of Penrith, at about 12.30pm on Sunday.

The former Carmel RC College pupil was one of four instructors from the Patterdale Hall outdoor education centre, based at Glenridding, in the Lake Distrtict, who were canoeing with 11 year ten students from Bolton School, in Lancashire.

Mr Kinnie and a teenage boy, believed to have been in the same canoe, plunged into the water when their craft capsized.

Witnesses said the river was flowing unusually fast due to heavy rainfall the day before.

Emergency services arrived at the scene at 12.40pm and found Mr Kinnie unconscious and nine others stranded on a small island in the middle of the river, known as Station Island.

Fire station manager Craig Drinkald, who was at the scene, said: “Our crews transported the instructor, who was unconscious, across the river by a canoe.

“He was seen by an emergency doctor and then taken on a spinal board to the air ambulance helicopter.”

Mr Kinnie was airlifted to the Royal Victoria Hospital, in Newcastle, but doctors were unable to save him.

The student was taken to the Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, with injuries described as not life-threatening.

Firefighters brought the other nine members of the group trapped on the island to safety.

Mr Drinkald said: “The river was waist deep and firefighters in specialist gear were able to walk them across one at a time. Downstream, we set up a safety boom to stop anybody being washed away.”

The rescue effort involved about 50 people, including firefighters, police, road and air ambulance crews and mountain rescue teams.

Last night, Sean Duffy, who worked with Mr Kinnie at Patterdale Hall, said he was “the life and soul of any party” and “lived his life to the full”.

After leaving school at 18, Mr Kinnie worked behind the bar at the Quaker House, in Darlington, for 18 months.

Former Quaker House owner Stephen Metcalfe said: “He was full of life, cheeky, a lovely lad and the customers loved him. I talked to him two months ago because he had started playing the guitar and wanted to come and play at one of our open mic nights.

I’m so shocked by the news.”

Philip Britton, headteacher of Bolton School Boys’ Division, said: “Our thoughts and sympathies are with the instructor’s family.”

A Cumbria Police spokesman said they were heading a joint investigation with the Health and Safety Executive into Mr Kinnie’s death. An inquest into the cause of death will be opened in the next few days, the spokesman added.