Heartbreaking new details emerge of how Bournemouth beach tragedy victims are believed to have died
THE children who died at Bournemouth beach were playing on a sandbar before being tipped off by the wash of a passenger ferry, it is now believed.
Sources have told The Sun they had waded out to the bank but were caught by a rip current unleashed as the Dorset Belle came into berth at the pier.
Sunnah Khan, 12, and Joe Abbess, 17, drowned in the half-term horror last Wednesday afternoon.
Eight others survived and were treated by paramedics, some being taken to hospital after being pulled ashore.
A source said: “They were on a sandbar to the east of the pier when the Dorset Belle came moored alongside the pier. It created a riptide which deluged everyone on the sandbar and effectively forced them further out to sea.”
Dorset Police, who have impounded the 78ft pleasure boat, insisted they were still trying to piece together what happened.
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A man in his 40s was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and bailed.
Yesterday, the force apologised to Sunnah’s mother for keeping her in the dark for five days.
A&E nurse Stephanie Williams, 32, from High Wycombe, Bucks, was finally called by the force after she told The Sun of her desperate efforts to get answers.
It came as an inquest into the deaths was opened in Bournemouth.
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Coroner’s officer Nicola Muller said police were called “following the suggestion they had been caught in a riptide”.
Sunnah was declared dead at hospital in Poole, while Joe, a trainee chef at Southampton FC, was pronounced dead at Royal Bournemouth hospital.
Post-mortem examinations showed that they had drowned. The inquest was adjourned until the police investigation has been completed.
Coroner Rachael Griffin said: “I wish to take this opportunity to remind all those who enter the sea or any open water to be aware of the powers of the water.”