A 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy have died after being pulled from the sea off Bournemouth Pier.
Eight other people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the incident, to which emergency services were called at 16:32 BST on Wednesday.
A man in his 40s who was on the water at the time has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, Dorset Police said.
An investigation has been launched into what happened.
It is not clear how the boy and girl, who died in hospital, sustained their critical injuries.
Dorset Police are working alongside the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The coastguard said it had conducted a search to make sure there were no other people missing and was “satisfied there are not”.
Highly unusual circumstances for a double killing …
I suspect that the results of the police investigation may not be long in coming …
The 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy who died in Bournemouth yesterday had jumped from the pier before being dragged out to sea by a riptide, MailOnline can reveal today.
A man in his 40s, who had been on the water at the time of the incident, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. One source claimed that he might have been encouraging them to jump before the tragedy. He remains in custody.
The police have asked people not to speculate and I think for the sake of the families, that’s for the best
They’ve also said the children weren’t jumping off the pier and I think the Daily Mail need to be apologising for that headline, which must have caused a lot of hurt
Typical sensationalism and insensitive headline grabbing from the Daily Mail based on speculation before anyone knows the facts
Dorset Police’s assistant chief constable Rachel Farrell said: “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.”
Dorset Police faced questions over why so little information is being provided about the incident and ACC Farrell said this was to protect the ongoing investigation.
In a statement Dorset Police said: “Following initial enquiries, a man aged in his 40s who was on the water at the time was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. He has now been released under investigation while enquiries continue.”
There’s suggestions it might have been due to a riptide now.
A riptide warning was issued.
A great deal of criticism, and well deserved, has been levelled at people on the beach filming the rush to give CPR to the poor kids as though it were a race to upload it to their social media accounts. Some people are pretty sick .
On Friday, the Dorset Belle remained guarded by a police van at Cobb’s Quay in Poole Harbour.
According to the website Marine Traffic, the boat had visited Bournemouth Pier, the scene of the incident, at 4pm, minutes before the first 999 calls were made, and returned afterwards.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council (BCP) said it hadn’t licensed the boat and that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) was responsible for issuing licences to vessels the size of the Dorset Belle.
Dorset Police are working with the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency to investigate the incident. The Police declined to comment on any investigation into the boat and refused to say if any vessel was involved.
Obviously, a vessel in the vicinity of the tragedy has to be the subject of investigation and cleared of any involvement.
Joe Abbess, a 17-year-old boy, and Sunnah Khan, a 12-year-old girl from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, died in the incident involving 10 swimmers on Wednesday.
Joe and Sunnah both suffered critical injuries and died in hospital.
Dorset Police said it was continuing to investigate what had happened.
I know that beach and waterfront well and I learned decades ago that riptides are common in that area, especially around and under the pier at high tide. It is possible that the two were caught in a riptide and then battered by the pier’s supports.
The photo below at slack low tide shows the supports exposed.
The Dorset Belle was held in Poole Harbour following the deaths of Joe Abbess, 17, and Sunnah Khan, 12, off Bournemouth pier on 31 May. Investigators have since said no boat was involved in the deaths. The boat’s owner, Island Cruises, said “due to the circumstances surrounding the Dorset Belle” selling the boat was “the only option”.
In a statement, posted on the Dorset Belle’s Facebook page, its owner said: “The last few weeks have been too much financially and mentally with lots of sleepless nights. The bills have been mounting up and need to be paid, the lack of money due to the vessel not operating has been a major factor in this heart-breaking decision. I have searched for a solution to keep her operating from Bournemouth but have drawn a blank.”
An inquest earlier this month into the deaths of Joe Abbess, from Southampton, and Sunnah Khan, from Buckinghamshire, heard they were part of a group of people thought to have been caught up in a “riptide” in the sea near the pier.
In a statement on Tuesday, the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said: “Having conducted a thorough preliminary assessment of the circumstances of this tragic accident the MAIB has decided that no formal investigation will be launched. This was a truly tragic accident but our understanding of the circumstances is that it did not involve a vessel and therefore is not something the branch would investigate.”
All boat operations from the pier remain suspended.
A man, in his 40s, who police said was “on the water” at the time, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and remains under investigation.
There still seems to be some “confusion” over the roles of the boat and the unnamed man.
Police said they investigated whether a sightseeing boat, the Dorset Belle, had caused dangerous sea conditions but concluded it was not to blame.
A man, initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, will face no action.
Dorset Police said it would work with the coroner to provide a report covering the incident and investigation.
A further pre-inquest hearing is due to be held on 18 September.
No doubt the correct procedures have been followed but the investigation seems to have taken far too long and gone down routes which adversely affected an innocent man and a guiltless business.
