Emergency services scrambled to help swimmers at Bournemouth beach week after tragedy

Emergency services were scrambled to Bournemouth beach again on Wednesday, a week after two children lost their lives in the water.

Two swimmers got into difficulty in the sea to the east of Bournemouth Pier at 12.25pm on Tuesday. An RNLI lifeboat, two coastguard crews, a coastguard helicopter, police officers and ambulance paramedics attended the scene as the water was searched.

However, the search was called off at 1.15pm after it emerged the two male swimmers had been able to make their own way back on to the beach, a spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said. It is unknown if they were children or adults.

A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: “We responded to reports of two people in difficulties in the water at Bournemouth beach yesterday.

“The alarm was raised at around 12.25pm and the coastguard search and rescue helicopter was sent from Lee-on-the-Solent.

“The response included the coastguard rescue teams from Southbourne and Poole, the RNLI’s inshore lifeboat from Mudeford, Poole Bay lifeguards, Dorset Police and the South Western Ambulance Service,” the spokesperson continued.

“The two people were able to make their own way to the shore.”

A spokesperson for Dorset police added: “We received a report at 12.39pm yesterday relating to two people believed to be in difficulty in the water near to Bournemouth Pier.

“Officers attended to assist the coastguard, who were leading on the incident. A further report was received at 1.15pm that the individuals had been accounted for and were safe and well.”

It comes after a 12-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy died at Bournemouth beach on May 31st.

Sunnah Khan, 12, and trainee chef Joe Abbess, 17, drowned after a “suggestion” that they got into difficulty by getting caught in a riptide in the sea off Bournemouth beach, an inquest heard.

A man in his 40s, who was “on the water” at the time, was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and released under investigation on Thursday.

The Dorset Belle sightseeing boat was impounded by Dorset Police after the incident.

The force said the beach was extremely busy but neither Joe or Sunnah or anyone else pulled from the sea at the time of the incident was involved in any collision or contact with any vessel in the water.

All Bournemouth Pier boat operations were suspended on Tuesday following the deaths.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood has expressed concern about a lack of clarity from local police officers about the incident, which he said had led to “wild speculation on social media”.

“We do need to understand, learn lessons from this, provide clarity early on, just so people can have an assurance of mind as to what roughly happened,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Corrigan said officers were keeping an “open mind around the circumstances”.