Riptide is blamed for beach tragedy at Bournemouth
A RIPTIDE may have caused the deaths of two children who drowned off Bournemouth beach last week, an inquest has heard.
Joe Abbess, 17, and Sunnah Khan, 12, were dragged from the sea after getting into difficulty on Wednesday but were pronounced dead in hospital.
Dorset Police said detectives were keeping an ‘open mind’ about the circumstances that led to the deaths.
But Dorset Coroner’s Court heard there was a ‘suggestion’ a riptide had led to the pair drowning and eight others getting into difficulties by the pier.
A post-mortem examination carried out by Home Office pathologist Basil Purdue gave the cause of the deaths as drowning, coroner’s officer Nicola Muller said. Trainee chef Joe was airlifted to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he was pronounced dead, and Sunnah was taken to Poole General Hospital, she added.
Ms Muller said: ‘The brief circumstances are that emergency services were contacted by members of the public... following suggestion they had been caught in a riptide.’ Riptides are powerful currents that can drag swimmers away from the shallows of the shoreline and out to deep water.
Rachael Griffin, senior coroner for Dorset, said her enquiries could not progress further at this stage due to an ongoing police investigation. The inquest in Bournemouth was opened and adjourned for a pre- inquest review hearing on September 18.
Joe’s family described him as a ‘fabulous young man,’ and Sunnah’s mother Stephanie Williams paid tribute to her ‘beautiful daughter.’ The 32-year-old tweeted: ‘No parent should ever have to go through what her dad and I are going through. We love you so much baby girl.’
Joe had been enjoying a day on the beach with friends when he was overcome by the waves, while Sunnah was swimming by the pier with her siblings.
Pleasure boat the Dorset Belle was impounded by police shortly after the tragedy and a man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of
‘No parent should go through this’
manslaughter before being released, but Dorset Constabulary said it had ‘several lines of inquiry.’
Both Ms Williams and Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, criticised the force for failing to release information about the circumstances of the incident.
Mr Ellwood said: ‘The absence of clarity led to really wild speculation on social media.
‘Provide clarity early on – just so people can have an assurance of mind on what roughly happened.’
But David Sidwick, the Conservative police and crime commissioner for Dorset, defended the force’s handling of the case.
‘They are working together as fast
as they can to find out what happened on that day and I truly believe that they need to be given the time and space to do that fully, thoroughly, professionally without hindrance,’ he said.
Dorset Police have said that the beach was extremely busy but that neither of the victims or anyone pulled from the sea was involved in any collision in the water.