Coach of Channel swim victim Susan Taylor gives eyewitness report
The tragic swimmer who died while crossing the English Channel vomited and collapsed moments after 'hitting the wall', her tearful swimming coach said today. Susan Taylor, 34, stopped breathing just a mile from the French coast while attempting to fulfil her childhood dream of swimming to France. The fitness fanatic set off on the 21-mile swim in the early hours of Sunday (14/7) morning at around 1am. But disaster struck when she became ill on her way into Wissant Bay, near Cap Gris Nez, and had to be dragged aboard a support boat shadowing her. Last night, as her charity fund for terminally-ill children topped the £60,000 mark in her memory, coach Paul Ferrier gave the first eyewitness account of what happened.