'Rip tide may have caused youngsters to drown' in beach horror

Inquest into Bournemouth tragedy

- ADAM ASPINALL

TWO youngsters who drowned in the Bournemouth beach tragedy may have been caught in a rip tide, an inquest heard yesterday.

Sunnah Khan, 12, and Joe Abbess, 17, were pulled from the sea last Wednesday but both died later in hospital.

Police said they were keeping an open mind about the tragedy's circumstances and dismissed speculation the victims had jumped from the pier.

Dorset coroner's officer Nicola Muller said a postmortem identified drowning as the cause of deaths.

She added emergency crews were alerted when people got into difficulty, following a "suggestion they had been caught in a rip tide".

Ms Muller said trainee chef Joe was taken to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he was identified by police from a family photo. Sunnah was taken to Poole General Hospital where she was identified by her father.