The 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy who died in Bournemouth yesterday were unrelated and enjoying a day out at the beach with family and friends when they got into difficulty in the sea, it was revealed today.
Eight other children were hurt after getting into trouble in the water close to the beach and pier in Dorset packed with half-term holidaymakers and locals yesterday afternoon.
The 12-year-old girl from Buckinghamshire and a 17-year-old boy from Southampton, who were not related, died yesterday afternoon, police said. Councillor Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth Council said today that their loved-ones ‘came to the beach for a great day out and have gone home without a child’.
A man in his 40s, who had been on the water at the time of the incident, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. He remains in custody.
Dorset Police Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Farrell said officers are investigating the ‘circumstances or event’ that caused a number of people to get into difficulty in the water in Bournemouth on Wednesday. But ACC Farrell refused to reveal what she believed had caused the tragedy despite asking the public not to speculate.
An empty Bournemouth beach today after the tragedy yesterday. Ten were injured, two, aged 12 and 17, have died
One tearful mourner laid roses on the sand this morning as Bournemouth mourned the loss of two children
The town’s historic pier on Thursday morning as litter pickers removed rubbish
A 12-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy have died after a major incident took place in the water on Bournemouth beach
She said: ‘Following our initial inquiries, a man aged in his 40s who was on the water at the time, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
‘As we have a person in custody, you will know there is only limited information I can give about the investigation.
‘However, to avoid further speculation, I am able to tell you that it’s clear that yesterday a number of people already in the water got into difficulty and we are investigating the circumstances or event that caused that to happen.
‘Early investigation indicates that there was no physical contact between a vessel and any of the swimmers at the time of the incident. I can also confirm there is no suggestion of people jumping from the pier or jet-skis being involved.’
Councillor Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, said what happened in Bournemouth on Wednesday must have been a ‘terrifying’ experience.
She said: ‘Again I want to add our sincere condolences to the families of the children who lost their lives, and our thoughts are with the families of the young people that were in the water.
‘It must have been a really terrifying experience for everybody.
‘The services worked incredibly well together. Our staff on the beach all rallied round to support the emergency services.’
She said there are additional staff available for the public on the beach on Thursday and over the weekend, adding: ‘The beach is busy. We are making sure that the RNLI are very visible and that our teams are available there to support people and make sure that they feel safe on the beach.’
She said Bournemouth ‘remains a really fantastic place to visit’, adding that the incident needs to be investigated properly.
‘And we are confident with our partners that any lessons that need to be learned in the future will will be learned,’ she said.
One of the men was pulled from the water and had to be given CPR on the beach by lifeguards before being taken away by air ambulance
Earlier multiple witnesses said that people had been jumping from the pier. The sand close to the pier had to be cleared so two air ambulances could land, but sadly the two schoolchildren later died in hospital.
Witnesses described harrowing scenes as CPR was administered on the beach and some ‘idiots’ with phones were seen filming lifeguards trying to revive the two children.
Since 2004, Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has dealt with more than 200 incidents of tombstoning, including pier jumping, leading to at least 70 injuries and 20 deaths.
Police today confirmed that no vessel is believed to have been in ‘physical contact’ with the children following speculation on social media they had been hit by a jet-ski or boat. But there have been claims that the tragedy may have been caused by the wash of a jet ski.
MailOnline has asked Dorset Police to comment. But one local surfer said he witnessed three jetskiers ‘buzzing the pier’ close to the line on Tuesday, the day before the tragic incident. There has been an ongoing issue between jetskiers and water users around the area of the pier.
Nicola Holton, who was at the beach with her husband, said: ‘One lifeguard went to rescue two swimmers struggling but he couldn’t bring them in. He spotted another person struggling and a second lifeguard went out to them but there were multiple people in trouble.
‘The remaining lifeguard was trying to get everyone out of the water. The ambulance service came to the struggling person rescued by the second lifeguard. More lifeguards arrived to rescue another swimmer near the pier. My husband spotted another swimmer struggling. He ran to the lifeguards. The guard immediately went in and they picked him up on a jet ski.
‘I will never ever get the image out of my head of him being brought out. They cleared the beach for the air ambulance. Then another was spotted and again brought to shore to be worked on. Absolutely horrible.
‘Loads of idiots ignoring lifeguard requests to get out of the water and clear the beach. People were running towards those having CPR filming on their phones.’
Paul Moyce, 61, said he believed those involved had been jumping into the sea off the pier.
He said: ‘I think they went off the end of the pier and went out too far. They must have got caught by the current. I lived here for 61 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Nicola Holton, 43, and Stuart Clark, 42, were on the beach with their two children when the tragedy unfolded. They said the summertime scene turned into something from ‘a horror film.’
Mr Clark said: ‘As we walked to the east side of the pier there was at least one but probably a few jet skiers going across the right side of the pier.
‘We didn’t take too much notice of them at the time.
‘There were announcements throughout the afternoon telling people not to climb on the pier. After 2pm it seemed like people weren’t going near it.
‘The next announcement we got was at 4pm about a dangerous riptide in the water and it wasn’t soon after that we saw a couple of swimmers in trouble out to sea.
‘It got really chaotic when they brought a young man back to shore on a lifeguard jet ski. It was obvious he wasn’t alive. That’s when people started gathering around and the lifeguards were trying to clear the beach at the same time as helping the others in the water.
‘We saw the young girl get brought out too and there were no obvious injuries on her either. I just wanted to get my family off the beach with our belongings.’
Miss Holton said: ‘It was like a scene from a horror film. After an afternoon of lovely weather and the odd announcement to tell kids to stop climbing on the pier it looked like it had all settled down.
‘When we first spotted the swimmers in distress they were far out to the east side of the pier.
‘A lifeguard ran into the water with a surfboard and it seemed to take ages for him to get to them. There was an announcement to get out of the water and then the lifeguards started bringing people back to shore.
‘A few were taken to the lifeguard tent and then we saw the young man and girl brought out. We were packing up our things to leave as quickly as we could. It was just awful.
‘There were loads of idiots ignoring lifeguard requests to get out of the water and clear the beach. People were running towards those having CPR filming on their phones.’
The first person to reach the girl who died was an 18-year-old boy.
His father, Rob Creech, said today: ‘My son was on the other side of the pier swimming with a few friends.
‘All of a sudden there were a lot of people on the pier shouting and screaming that there was somebody in the water. He swam to the other side of the pier and he found a young girl floating face down in the water.
‘The emergency services were just arriving at the beach so he was shouting to them and scooped her up to swim to shore. He managed to get her out onto the beach and the emergency services took it from there.’
The operation involved multiple teams from across the emergency services
The beach had to be cleared before the air ambulances were able to land
There are yellow marker buoys 200m off the beach and water craft operating inside that area are restricted to speeds of 6 knots.
One local surfer said he witnessed three jetskiers ‘buzzing the pier’ close to the line on Tuesday, the day before the tragic incident.
Lawrence Hopgood said: ‘I was surfing the night before There were 3 jetskiers buzzing the pier and getting close to the line. A lifeguard went out on a jetski and spoke to them, then left.
‘The jetskiers didn’t leave but proceeded to do donuts near the surfers, whilst filming themselves.’
Lifeguards on the busy beach had rushed into the water by Bournemouth Pier after a group of people got into difficulty in the sea at about 4.30pm on Wednesday. It is believed that all of those involved were aged between 12 and 18.
None of the other eight who were injured children were seriously harmed and they were treated at the scene by the ambulance service.
Emergency services were quickly at the scene and the teenage boy and girl were rushed to hospital after sustaining critical injuries.
Speaking last night, Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: ‘I express my deep condolences to the family and friends of the two young people who tragically lost their lives in Bournemouth.
‘A dreadful event in circumstances when they were enjoying beautiful weather in our town. So sad.’
The MP added that the incident was a ‘salutary lesson’ that ‘danger is ever present’ on beaches and the ocean.
He went on to thank the life guards and air ambulance members ‘who we can take for granted’.
Thousands of people were enjoying the sunny weather before being asked to leave the beach by police
Two people were taken to Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital
Eeman Qamar, from Southampton, was on the beach with her mother and three-month-old baby.
She told the BBC that just after 4pm lifeguards began to tell people to clear the beach, saying there had been a major incident.
‘After about 20 minutes, the first air ambulance arrived and landed right in the middle of the beach,’ she said.
Ms Qamar continued: ‘The lifeguards started getting on jet skis and boats, searching the sea and about 20 minutes later the second air ambulance arrived and it took another hour-and-a-half for them to finish the whole search and rescue operation.’
A Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called to East Beach, Bournemouth at 4.39pm to support a multi-agency incident.
‘We have crews in attendance from Westbourne and Springbourne, together with a technical rescue team from Poole.’
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: ‘We sent two air ambulances, six double-crewed land ambulances, one critical care car, two operations officers, one doctor, one hazardous area response team and one responding officer.’
HM Coastguard told MailOnline that ‘two people had been pulled from the water and passed into the care of the ambulance service’ and that ‘coastguards searched to make sure there were no other people missing and are satisfied there are not’.
Bus routes that would normally serve the Pier stops were diverted through the square.
Anyone with information about what happened should contact Dorset Police on www.dorset.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting occurrence number 55230083818.
Alternatively, witnesses can contact independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling Freephone 0800 555 111.