Beach deaths 'preventable', parent tells inquest

Twelve-year-old Sunnah Khan and 17-year-old Joe Abbess both drowned off Bournemouth beach

The deaths of two children who drowned off Bournemouth beach were "preventable", one of their parents has told an inquest.

Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and 12-year-old Sunnah Khan, from High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, both died after getting into trouble in the water in May 2023.

Joe's mother, Vanessa, told Dorset Coroner's Court the area of sea should not have been defined as a "safe swimming zone".

A previous hearing was told a rip tide had led to the deaths of the two youngsters, with eight other people needing treatment by paramedics on the day.

'Snatched away'

Mrs Abbess also read a statement on behalf of herself and husband, Peter, paying tribute to Joe who had been a trainee chef for Southampton Football Club.

Her voice breaking with emotion, she said: "Joe was a wonderful son, brother and friend and we are all devastated by his death. He is greatly missed.

"Our family and friends will always love him and we are incredibly proud of the fabulous young man he was.

"Joe was generous, loving, caring, hardworking and funny.

"We were privileged to have him in our lives for 17 years and we are all so sorry that he will never be able to fulfil his dreams and ambitions.

"Joe had a great life ahead of him and it is so tragic that he was snatched away from it. We all find a future without him in our lives very difficult to comprehend."

Joe Abbess was working for Southampton FC as a trainee chef

Harriet Short, who represents the family, took over reading the statement on behalf of Mrs Abbess who had become too emotional to continue.

She described how Joe had gone to the beach on 31 May with a large group of friends.

Unknowingly, she had messaged him at 15:45 BST, about the time the incident was unfolding, saying: "Hope you're having fun at the beach. It's so warm, don't forget to apply sun cream and drink water."

The statement continued: "Maybe something had alerted me in the depths of my mind that I felt I needed to message Joe to check in on him."

One of Joe's friends later called her, sounding "hysterical", saying lifeguards were trying to get Joe out of the water.

Ms Short said another friend later called Mrs Abbess to say "Joe was in the sea when the waves got crazy and that the alarm had been raised".

Mrs Abbess then received calls from the police and in a call at 17:41 an A&E consultant at the hospital where he had been taken told her staff "couldn't do any more for Joe".

Air ambulances landed on Bournemouth beach following the incident

Mrs Abbess said she was concerned there were insufficient lifeguards on duty on the day of the incident, and by the first anniversary there had been no signage put up warning of the dangers.

"Our family used to love beaches and found the sound of waves calming but now hearing this sends shivers down our spines," she said.

"We question whether there were enough lifeguards on the beach, initially, to deal with the incident, and whether they had experience in dealing with such large-scale incidents as there were so many casualties."

She said the area of sea should have been defined as "unsafe" following a rip tide incident in August 2021.

"We feel that Joe and Sunnah's deaths, all casualties and the entire incident could have been preventable if the flagged safe swimming zone had been reassessed," she added.

Stephanie Williams also questioned the lifeguard response.

In her statement, she said: "Why did it take 50 minutes to locate Sunnah in less than 5ft of water?"

She criticised the local council for failing to place warning signs about the dangers of rip tides in the area and providing water safety advice.

She warned "it will happen again unless something changes here".

"Bournemouth council needs to take steps to make the beach safer, it has made me feel angry that there are so many display points and they do not use them," she added.

'Infectious laugh'

Sunnah's father Asim Khan recalled in a statement how he had taken Sunnah to Bournemouth along with his sister, Rena Khan, and two other children from the family.

He said he had remained on the sand while Sunnah had gone into the sea with his sister and another child.

He said they "started panicking" 20 to 30 minutes after the first person was brought out of the sea and Sunnah could not be found.

"I believe that all of the lifeguards that day were doing their best, however, they were mostly very young, teenagers really, they all seemed panicked and looked like they didn't know what to do," he told the court.

Ms Williams paid a tearful tribute to her "kind, funny, reliable, smart and incredibly beautiful daughter".

She said she was "incredibly popular at school" and "fiercely protective of her family".

"Her smile lit up a room and her laugh was infectious," Ms Williams continued.

"She cared about so many people and would do anything for her family and friends.

"She was a force of nature - to know her was to be truly lucky.

"We have missed her and will continue to miss her for the rest of our lives."

Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Basil Purdue said post-mortem examinations of both Joe and Sunnah showed they died of drowning with no sign of blunt force injury.

The inquest continues.