Is the world's most dangerous stretch of water an innocent-looking river in Yorkshire? How the Strid's currents 'will pulverise anyone who falls in against rocks'

Is the world's most dangerous stretch of water an innocent-looking river in Yorkshire? How the Strid's currents 'will pulverise anyone who falls in against rocks'

• The narrow Strid in Yorkshire reportedly has a 100 percent fatality rate
• It's said to have deadly combination of fast currents and underwater rocks 
• Anyone going for a swim in it risks being pulverised, it's been claimed  
• 'Vortices in the flow will trap bodies under the water' - environment expert 

The River Wharfe in Yorkshire makes for a lovely spot for a picnic or walk, but it has a dark side - a stretch of water that it's claimed is the most dangerous in the world. 

It narrows at a point called the Strid, near Bolton Abbey, which is said to have a deadly combination of fast currents and underwater rocks.

Occasionally people jump across here but falling in apparently means certain death.

The River Wharfe in Yorkshire makes for a lovely spot for a picnic or walk, but it has a dark side - a stretch of water that it's claimed is the most dangerous in the world 

The claim that it's the deadliest stretch of water in the world is made by British 'fact-seeker' Tom Scott on a recent YouTube video.

He explains that at the Strid the river 'turns on its side, gouging out passages and tunnels'. Here, 'a mass of deadly currents' would mean that anybody who fell in could be 'pulverised against the rocks under the water over and over again'.

They might not come out in a recognisable form, he adds.

Though the river has claimed a lot of lives, it's not statistics that make the Strid the world's most dangerous stretch of water, Scott says, but the fact that its threats lie beneath a calm and tempting surface.

The Wharfe narrows at a point called the Strid, near Bolton Abbey, which is said to have a deadly combination of fast currents and underwater rocks

One expert said that the Strid has vortices in the flow that trap bodies under the water

In the footage, the keen cameraman tells the story of a young boy in the 12th century who was set to be the future king of Scotland. He reportedly died attempting to jump across the Strid. 

He later tells the story of an incident in 2010. The tragedy, which was reported by MailOnline, involved the death of an eight-year-old boy who was killed after falling into the river.

Aaron Page was playing near stepping stones on his birthday when he slipped on a steep riverbank and drowned. A passer-by grabbed hold of him but the strong current dragged him below the surface and he disappeared.

His body was not found until more than three hours later.

Scott said that the only way the river may be survivable is if someone had 'a lot of equipment and a lot of luck'.

He added: 'It is so dangerous. It looks safe, it looks tempting, but it will kill you.'

Professor Carolyn Roberts, Professor of Environment at Gresham College, London, said: 'Beautiful rivers can certainly be dangerous to humans – the Nile has lots of crocodiles, the Zambesi will push you over the Victoria Falls, and beware of swallowing water from the lower reaches of the Colorado.

'Whilst the Strid is also beautiful, and looks innocuous, it’s similarly deadly. It kills because of its geomorphology – the form of the channel, which is influenced by the nature of the rocks over which it tumbles. 

'Rather than carving a stately way through silt, it twists and turns through flat and overhanging rocks falling over the edge of a limestone formation. Vortices in the flow will trap bodies under the water close to the bed or the sides, whilst the turbulence will render someone unconscious very quickly. It’s not a good place to play.'