FAMILY and friends have paid emotional tribute to two teenage lovebirds who drowned in a Smethwick canal in what police have called a tragic accident.

The duo, named locally as Mohammed Fayz Uddin, 18, of Hanson Close, Smethwick and Sara Rylance, 17, were pulled out of the canal by emergency services at Smethwick Locks at 7.20pm on Wednesday.

Mr Uddin’s uncle Nasir Uddin visited the locks to see for himself the site of the tragedy – and revealed his family had urged the teenager not to go out.

He said: “He was a really nice kid. They had warned him against going out because of trouble in the area.

“He was just meant to go out for five minutes – those were the last minutes of his life as it turns out. His mum called him later on but all she got was an answer phone. At that time we didn’t know what had happened.

“He was a caring young man. He kept himself at home – he would eat, sleep and watch TV.”

He said Mohammed, known as Fayz, a Halesowen College student, had wanted to do an apprenticeship, and had helped out in a restaurant.

A shocked friend of Sara, who did not wish to be named, believed she had tried to rescue Fayz from the canal.

She said: “He dropped in the canal and Sara went to get him, and she fell in as well. I saw them bringing the bodies up. Sara was in a neck brace. They were pumping at her chest – I heard the nurse say she wasn’t responding.”