Tributes have been paid on social media for a teenage boy who tragically passed away in hospital after being pulled from the river near Hampton Court last week.

It is understood the 17-year-old had been diving into the river Thames, near Hampton Court Bridge, with three friends on London’s hottest day of the year, which hit 34C, on Wednesday (June 21).

Two members of the public, an off-duty lifeguard and her partner, helped the boy’s friends by continuously diving down to find him – 'for more than seven minutes' - before finally pulling his body on to the bank.

David Stewart, 51, said: “He was down for such a long time but there was such an amazing response from the emergency service with the police, lifeboats and the fire brigade turning up.

“I really did fear the worst, it was horrendous and so sad but the fact that they eventually took him off to hospital and he was still alive – there was that sense of almost hope.”

The teenager has been named locally as Alfie Viccars.

Friends have taken to Facebook to pay tribute to Alfie and messages of ‘RIP Alfie’ surfacing on Twitter.

One friend posted: “Rest in perfect peace. you had such a good heart & everyone loves & misses you more than ever. you were taken from us far too soon, but god only takes the best. we're all trying to stay strong for you alf."

The Metropolitan Police has confirmed that they were called at approximately 6.53pm on June 21 to Hampton Court Bridge, Richmond, and continued to treat the boy at the scene before he was air-lifted to hospital and his next of kin alerted shortly after.

Alfie’s condition was being treated as ‘critical’ that evening but police have confirmed that life support was withdrawn in the afternoon on June 22.

The incident is not being treated as ‘suspicious’ and occurred the same day Richmond Police advised, via their twitter account, people not to jump into the water as they are being inundated with 999 calls.