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One of Britain’s top doctors today told MailOnline of the desperate attempts to save the two children who died in Bournemouth yesterday – and slammed TikTok fiends who filmed the CPR and mocked medics running to their aid.
The 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy had jumped off the pier before being dragged out to sea by a riptide, MailOnline revealed today.
Eight other children were hurt after getting into trouble in the water close to the beach in Dorset packed with half-term holidaymakers and locals yesterday afternoon.
But a minority filmed the tragedy unfold – including emergency workers performing CPR on a child. One teenager filmed an emergency worker sprinting across the sand, shouting: ‘Oh s**t. You run boy. Run, Forrest Run’. One angry person nearby then yelled: ‘Someone is f***ing dying’.
Bournemouth-born Dr Rob Rosa, a former GP and now one of Britain’s Chief Medical Officers, told MailOnline how he was on the promenade when the first child was brought on to the beach and ran down to help when the second child, the 12-year-old girl was brought in from the sea around 15 minutes later. Witnesses said she had apparently been found face down in the water.
He said: ‘I have been a doctor for 18 years, including in A&E where I have been battle hardened, but I have never seen anything as bad as this in my career. It was utterly exceptional and harrowing. They were carrying out CPR on two children while searching the water for others.
‘There were police, paramedics, doctors, the RNLI. They did everything they could for those children. It’s a terrible tragedy. The lifeguards were teenagers themselves and did an incredible job to try to save those children’.
As some on the beach filmed the CPR, he added: ‘Those videoing the desperate CPR attempts should think long and hard at their actions, the tragic death of a child is not something anyone should voyeuristically observe’.
Police officers walk along Bournemouth beach today
An empty Bournemouth beach today and the pier where children are understood to have jumped in yesterday. Ten were injured, two, aged 12 and 17, have died
One tearful mourner laid roses on the sand this morning as Bournemouth mourned the loss of two children
The town’s historic pier on Thursday morning as litter pickers removed rubbish
A 12-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy have died after a major incident took place in the water on Bournemouth beach
One of the men was pulled from the water and had to be given CPR on the beach by lifeguards before being taken away by air ambulance
Witnesses described harrowing scenes as CPR was administered on the beach and some ‘idiots’ with phones were seen filming lifeguards trying to revive the two children. The sand close to the pier had to be cleared so two air ambulances could land, but sadly the two schoolchildren later died in hospital.
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 he might have been encouraging them to jump before the tragedy. He remains in custody.
Since 2004, Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency has dealt with more than 200 incidents of tombstoning, including pier jumping, leading to at least 70 injuries and 20 deaths.
Police today confirmed that no vessel is believed to have been in ‘physical contact’ with the children following speculation on social media they had been hit by a jet-ski or boat. But there have been claims that the tragedy may have been caused by the wash of a jet ski.
MailOnline has asked Dorset Police to comment. But one local surfer said he witnessed three jetskiers ‘buzzing the pier’ close to the line on Tuesday, the day before the tragic incident. There has been an ongoing issue between jetskiers and water users around the area of the pier.
Nicola Holton, who was at the beach with her husband, said: ‘One lifeguard went to rescue two swimmers struggling but he couldn’t bring them in. He spotted another person struggling and a second lifeguard went out to them but there were multiple people in trouble.
‘The remaining lifeguard was trying to get everyone out of the water. The ambulance service came to the struggling person rescued by the second lifeguard. More lifeguards arrived to rescue another swimmer near the pier. My husband spotted another swimmer struggling. He ran to the lifeguards. The guard immediately went in and they picked him up on a jet ski.
‘I will never ever get the image out of my head of him being brought out. They cleared the beach for the air ambulance. Then another was spotted and again brought to shore to be worked on. Absolutely horrible.
‘Loads of idiots ignoring lifeguard requests to get out of the water and clear the beach. People were running towards those having CPR filming on their phones.’
Paul Moyce, 61, said he believed those involved had been jumping into the sea off the pier.
He said: ‘I think they went off the end of the pier and went out too far. They must have got caught by the current. I lived here for 61 years and I’ve never seen anything like it.’
Nicola Holton, 43, and Stuart Clark, 42, were on the beach with their two children when the tragedy unfolded. They said the summertime scene turned into something from ‘a horror film.’
Mr Clark said: ‘As we walked to the east side of the pier there was at least one but probably a few jet skiers going across the right side of the pier.
‘We didn’t take too much notice of them at the time.
‘There were announcements throughout the afternoon telling people not to climb on the pier. After 2pm it seemed like people weren’t going near it.
‘The next announcement we got was at 4pm about a dangerous riptide in the water and it wasn’t soon after that we saw a couple of swimmers in trouble out to sea.
‘It got really chaotic when they brought a young man back to shore on a lifeguard jet ski. It was obvious he wasn’t alive. That’s when people started gathering around and the lifeguards were trying to clear the beach at the same time as helping the others in the water.
‘We saw the young girl get brought out too and there were no obvious injuries on her either. I just wanted to get my family off the beach with our belongings.’
Miss Holton said: ‘It was like a scene from a horror film. After an afternoon of lovely weather and the odd announcement to tell kids to stop climbing on the pier it looked like it had all settled down.
‘When we first spotted the swimmers in distress they were far out to the east side of the pier.
‘A lifeguard ran into the water with a surfboard and it seemed to take ages for him to get to them. There was an announcement to get out of the water and then the lifeguards started bringing people back to shore.
‘A few were taken to the lifeguard tent and then we saw the young man and girl brought out. We were packing up our things to leave as quickly as we could. It was just awful.
‘There were loads of idiots ignoring lifeguard requests to get out of the water and clear the beach. People were running towards those having CPR filming on their phones.’
The first person to reach the girl who died was an 18-year-old boy.
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His father, Rob Creech, said today: ‘My son was on the other side of the pier swimming with a few friends.
‘All of a sudden there were a lot of people on the pier shouting and screaming that there was somebody in the water. He swam to the other side of the pier and he found a young girl floating face down in the water.
‘The emergency services were just arriving at the beach so he was shouting to them and scooped her up to swim to shore. He managed to get her out onto the beach and the emergency services took it from there.’
There are yellow marker buoys 200m off the beach and water craft operating inside that area are restricted to speeds of 6 knots.
One local surfer said he witnessed three jetskiers ‘buzzing the pier’ close to the line on Tuesday, the day before the tragic incident.
Lawrence Hopgood said: ‘I was surfing the night before There were 3 jetskiers buzzing the pier and getting close to the line. A lifeguard went out on a jetski and spoke to them, then left.
‘The jetskiers didn’t leave but proceeded to do donuts near the surfers, whilst filming themselves.’
Lifeguards on the busy beach had rushed into the water by Bournemouth Pier after a group of people got into difficulty in the sea at about 4.30pm on Wednesday. It is believed that all of those involved were aged between 12 and 18.
None of the other eight who were injured children were seriously harmed and they were treated at the scene by the ambulance service.
Emergency services were quickly at the scene and the teenage boy and girl were rushed to hospital after sustaining critical injuries.
The operation involved multiple teams from across the emergency services
The beach had to be cleared before the air ambulances were able to land
Speaking last night, Bournemouth West MP Conor Burns said: ‘I express my deep condolences to the family and friends of the two young people who tragically lost their lives in Bournemouth.
‘A dreadful event in circumstances when they were enjoying beautiful weather in our town. So sad.’
The MP added that the incident was a ‘salutary lesson’ that ‘danger is ever present’ on beaches and the ocean.
He went on to thank the life guards and air ambulance members ‘who we can take for granted’.
An investigation has now been launched into the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
Detective Chief Superintendent Neil Corrigan, of Dorset Police, said: ‘Our thoughts are with the loved ones of the young people who tragically died and we are doing all we can to support their families.
‘I understand the beach was very busy at the time of the incident and I would ask anyone with information that may assist our enquiries to please come forward.
‘We are at the early stages of our investigation and would ask people not to speculate about the circumstances surrounding the incident.’
Thousands of people were on the beach at the time, soaking up the sun and playing in the water in the 23C heat during the May half-term holiday.
The South Western Ambulance Service told MailOnline that they had ‘conveyed two patients to Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital’.
Beachgoer Ritta Saruchera said her daughter and her friend were in the sea at the time when they saw what happened.
She said: ‘They were coming back out of the water when they saw a teenage boy struggling.
‘We went to get help from the lifeguard and inform them of what was happening. There were three young men out there and they have been searching for a fourth.’
Thousands of people were enjoying the sunny weather before being asked to leave the beach by police
Two people were taken to Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital
Eeman Qamar, from Southampton, was on the beach with her mother and three-month-old baby.
She told the BBC that just after 16:00 lifeguards began to tell people to clear the beach, saying there had been a major incident.
‘After about 20 minutes, the first air ambulance arrived and landed right in the middle of the beach,’ she said.
Ms Qamar continued: ‘The lifeguards started getting on jet skis and boats, searching the sea and about 20 minutes later the second air ambulance arrived and it took another hour-and-a-half for them to finish the whole search and rescue operation.’
A Dorset and Wiltshire Fire Service spokesperson said: ‘We were called to East Beach, Bournemouth at 4.39pm to support a multi-agency incident.
‘We have crews in attendance from Westbourne and Springbourne, together with a technical rescue team from Poole.’
A spokesperson for the South Western Ambulance NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) said: ‘We sent two air ambulances, six double-crewed land ambulances, one critical care car, two operations officers, one doctor, one hazardous area response team and one responding officer.’
HM Coastguard told MailOnline that ‘two people had been pulled from the water and passed into the care of the ambulance service’ and that ‘coastguards searched to make sure there were no other people missing and are satisfied there are not’.
Bus routes that would normally serve the Pier stops were diverted through the square.
Anyone with information about what happened should contact Dorset Police on www.dorset.police.uk or by calling 101, quoting occurrence number 55230083818.
Alternatively, witnesses can contact independent charity Crimestoppers can be contacted anonymously online at Crimestoppers-uk.org or by calling Freephone 0800 555 111.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
