Beach deaths ruled as accidental by coroner

The deaths of a boy and a girl who drowned after an "intense" rip current off Bournemouth Beach were accidental, a coroner has concluded.

Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, died on 31 May 2023.

Eight other people were rescued and needed treatment from paramedics, with the situation resulting in a major incident being declared.

Following an inquest, Dorset senior coroner Rachael Griffin said she was satisfied nothing further could have been done to prevent their deaths following the "unexpected anomaly of nature".

Trainee chef Joe had been visiting the seaside resort with friends, while Sunnah was with her father and other family members enjoying the school holidays.

The beach was busy when the rip current suddenly took hold at about 15:45 BST, the inquest at Dorset Coroner's Court heard.

The first lifeguard could be seen running into the water seven minutes later, the inquest was told.

One witness described the waves going "from zero to absolute chaos with no warning".

Others spoke of being knocked underwater and struggling to breathe when the waves hit.

Both Sunnah and Joe were swimming within the designated "safer swimming" zone between the red and yellow flags when the rip current occurred.

Sunnah was spotted in the sea at about 16:45, and Joe was pulled out at 16:18.

In her concluding statement, Ms Griffin said the area of beach was "generally safe".

"However every body of water has an element of risk and unpredictability," she said.

The coroner added: "Rip currents are a body of water moving out to sea at speed, faster than an Olympic swimmer could swim against."

She praised the "brave, prompt and determined intervention" of the lifeguards on duty, without which "more lives would undoubtedly have been lost".

Ms Griffin said the inquest had heard there were temporary signs on the beach warning of strong currents.

Evidence was also given that the sea could have looked "relatively calm" from the shore, despite the presence of an "intense flash rip current" occurring in the water.

"I am satisfied nothing more could have been done to prevent the tragic deaths of Joe and Sunnah," she said.

The coroner said she was concerned that public education water safety messages, including the RNLI "Float to Live" campaign, were not more widely known about.

"This was a terrible incident which took the lives of two children," said Ms Griffin.

"I'm concerned the lack of mandatory education in schools over water safety could lead to future deaths."

She said she would be writing the the secretary of state for education over what she called the "critical topic" of teaching water safety.

Speaking after the inquest, Sunnah's parents raised concerns about RNLI lifeguards' "training or knowledge of mass rescue or major incidents" and said information about previous mass rescue incidents had not been shared between agencies.

Stephanie Williams, Sunnah's mother, said: "Unless the RNLI make improvements to the way they train staff, incident report and calculate risk we fear further deaths will occur.

"We also hope this will open the conversation around educating children on water safety that can be accessed by all school age children, whether they live in a coastal area or not."

She added that they felt it had been "a failure by an organisation which exists to save lives who have not taken the necessary steps to prevent death on this occasion".

The RNLI's general manager of lifeguard operations, Peter Dawes, paid tribute to the "courageous actions in very challenging circumstances" of the lifeguards and other emergency services.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Dawes said: "Sunnah and Joe followed all the safety advice on the beach but still lost their lives - this is a stark reminder that the sea is unpredictable going into the sea can always carry risk."

"We will continue to work with our partners to reach as many people as we can with our water safety messages," he added.

Tributes were paid to the two children during the inquest.

Joe, who had been a trainee chef for Southampton Football Club, was described by his family as "generous, loving, caring, hardworking and funny".

Ms Williams spoke in court of her "kind, funny daughter" who was "incredibly popular at school".

A pleasure cruiser, Dorset Belle, which ran trips from Bournemouth Pier was impounded by police following the fatal incident.

The force later said it had made the "evidence-based decision" that the movement of the Dorset Belle did not contribute to creating dangerous sea conditions.

A man in his 40s, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, will face no further action.

The coroner ruled at a pre-inquest hearing that the boat's presence was not a factor in the deaths.

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