Wave sweeps girl, five, to her death in front of mother at beauty spot
A FREAK wave swept a girl of five to her death in front of her family.
The 8ft wave struck when Rose Carter was walking along the water’s edge with her mother Sofia and her sevenyearold sister Juliet.
It knocked them all off their feet and carried Rose 30ft out to sea, an inquest heard yesterday. Her mother’s screams were heard by Lucy Seviour, a former triathlete who rushed into the water and got within 2ft of Rose before being beaten back by another large wave.
Mrs Carter also went into the water to try to reach Rose but was pulled back and led away from the beach. A Ministry of Defence boat that was nearby pulled her daughter from the water minutes later but she died in hospital.
The tragedy unfolded on April 18 at the Dorset beauty spot of
‘Didn’t think it was dangerous’
Durdle Door, one of the family’s favourite walking spots.
Rose’s father Martin, 33, a marketing manager, was at work at the time, Bournemouth Coroner’s Court heard.
Mrs Carter, 32, did not attend the inquest but said in a statement: ‘The waves were rough so we stayed close to the beach. I did not think it was dangerous.
‘My eldest daughter was in front of me and Rose was about three metres behind me. I saw a really big wave which went over her head and knocked her off her feet. I was pulled under the water two or three times and when I stood up I could no longer see Rose. A man pulled me out and I could then see Rose was beyond the breaking waves.’
During the inquest Miss Seviour, from Winchester, apologised to the Carter family for not being able to save Rose.
She said: ‘I could see Rose had been knocked flat by the wave and was already halfway down the beach in about a second.
‘I went in the water to see if I could get her out. I used to swim a lot as a triathlete and I made it through the first couple of waves but I think it was the third wave that hit me. I couldn’t see anything. Then I could see Rose for maybe half a second, she was about half a metre away.
‘I tried to move but got hit by another wave and got washed up on the beach.’
Describing the waves, Miss Seviour added: ‘It was quite rough but the tide was going out. The normal surf was about ten or 12 metres back from the cliff and the big waves came in to maybe eight or nine metres.
‘I was facing the cliff but on the beach getting some gunk off my shoe when a really big wave hit me from behind. It came up to just below my knees and knocked me. There was still a lot of power in the wave by the time it reached me.
‘It was at least eight metres further than any other wave.’
She said she later discovered that she had suffered a broken rib in the incident.
A post-mortem examination confirmed that Rose died from drowning. Brendan Allen, assistant coroner for Dorset, recorded a verdict of accidental death.
He said: ‘As Rose and her family were walking along this freak wave crashed up the beach and swept Rose off her feet.
‘Significantly even further up the beach it knocked Miss Seviour too, demonstrating the strength of that wave. It’s not something that could have been foreseen. It’s a tragedy.’
‘Could not be foreseen’