THE tragic moment a teenage girl hugs her boyfriend goodbye moments before his life support is switched off has been captured on camera.

Blake Ward, 16, died after he got into difficulty while swimming in the sea during a family trip near their home in Wales.

He and two other teenagers had to be rescued by the coast guard after reports they were in difficulty.

Blake was flown to hospital but died on Saturday morning.

His girlfriend Stephanie Ray, 15, posted the picture above and a heartbreaking tribute on Facebook shortly after she said her final goodbye.

“Today has been the hardest day for me and it will be a day I will never be able to forget as some of you may know Blake was involved in a terrible accident on Tuesday,” she wrote.

“I have been by his side through it all and I haven’t left him. As you all know Blake was a loving a caring person and would do anything for anyone. We was (sic) told yesterday that Blake would never recover and his brain was to damaged and we had to make the hard decision of turning his machine off and let him go. Blake was someone special to me and we had something special and we will always have that. Me and Blake had our ups and downs but we always got through them.

“But just know Blake wasn’t in any pain and he passed away with his family around him and he will forever be missed and he will always have a special place in my heart and I will never forget you Blake fly high my baby boy and I’m gonna make you proud love you and I always will.”

Upon hearing of the teen’s death the coast guard did a fly-past and a minute’s silence was held at the beach.

“Blake, our beautiful, brave, kind hearted, clever boy sadly passed away at 7.03 this morning,” Stephanie’s mum Becky Ray posted on Facebook.

“Even though he hadn’t been part of our family for long his loss has left us beyond devastated and heartbroken.”

Stephanie and Blake’s family are raising money for Blake’s farewell, with a GoFundMe that has raised more than $6697 so far.

The condition of the other two youths pulled from the water is not known.