A girl who was hospitalised after getting into difficulty on a Merseyside beach has become the 13th person to die during the heatwave which saw the country’s hottest May days ever.

Chiedza Nyanjowa, 15, was taken to hospital after ‘getting into difficulties’ on Formby beach on Monday.

Medics were called at around 3.30pm that day and Chiedza was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, where she died earlier today.

In a tribute the girl’s family said they were grateful to ‘everyone that helped Chiedza’.

‘Her family are glad that there were people around her to support her, their support shows that she was loved.

‘This is a difficult time for the family, who would appreciate any form of prayer.

‘Her family describe her as a bubbly person, she loved Christ and going to church. She loved cooking, she was a giver and wanted to be nurse when she grew up so she could give back.

‘She will be greatly missed and remembered for her kind spirit.’

Chiedza has become the 13th person to die in the May heatwave which saw temperatures reach 35C and water shortages to thousands of homes in the south east.

On Friday Police Scotland named a 16-year-old who died after getting into difficulty in the water in Stirlingshire as Charlie Noble.

And on Wednesday the body of 14-year-old Baltazar L’Qui was found in the River Thames while another teenage boy was found in a pond in Swanscombe, Kent.

The same day, a missing teenage boy’s body was found in a lake near Blackwater in Hampshire after he went missing while swimming.

On Tuesday, two boys were found dead, including 17-year-old David Junior-Tita from Crewe, who died at Pickmere Lake in Cheshire.

Junior Slater, 12, also died after getting into difficulty in the River Ribble in Lancashire.

That day police also recovered the body of a drowned 16-year-old boy from Sheffield who died in a Rotherham lake after going missing while swimming.

Muhammad Secka, who had drowned the previous day, was described as a ‘lovely, kind boy’ who dreamed of becoming a doctor.

There were four more deaths on Monday as temperatures reached 34.8C at Kew Gardens and broke the record for the hottest-ever May day.

Among them were 13-year-old Reco Puttock, who was pronounced dead after being found in Leadbeater Dam in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

The same day 16-year-old Lillianna Tomlinson was found dead at Warwickshire’s Kingsbury Water Park.

Heroic grandfather Phil Crow, 68, also died after suffering a cardiac arrest when he ran out to the sea trying to rescue his wife and granddaughter when they got into difficulty at Tregirls Beach in Padstow, Cornwall.

On Sunday, an unnamed 72-year-old woman died off West Angle Beach in Pembrokeshire. In Lincoln that day 15-year-old Declan Sawyer also died after getting into difficulty at Swanholme Lakes.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) issued heat health alerts for parts of England this week and warned of a greater risk of water-related deaths.

It said there was a higher likelihood of cold-water shock and drowning as more people took to lakes and ponds in the warm weather.

Vulnerable people were also at particular risk and the authority also warned of extra pressure on healthcare services.

After Monday’s heat broke a record set in 1922 and 1944, Tuesday’s temperatures went even higher, with 35.1C recorded at Kew Gardens that day.

Wales also saw its hottest-ever May temperatures after a high of 32.9C was recorded in Cardiff.

This is a breaking news story.