A 17-year-old boy who died after getting into difficulty in the water off Bournemouth beach on Wednesday has been named by Dorset Police as Joe Abbess, from Southampton.
The teenagers family said they are “heartbroken and devastated” at the loss of a “fabulous young man” and “talented trainee chef” who was enjoying a day at Bournemouth beach when he died on Wednesday.
The second victim was named locally as 12-year-old Sunnah Summayah Khan.
A family friend told The Telegraph that Miss Khan’s funeral had taken place at High Wycombe Central Mosque on Saturday afternoon.
The tragedy, in which both Miss Khan and a 17-year-old boy from Southampton died, involved a pleasure boat, the Dorset Belle, which was impounded by police after the incident with a man in his 40s, described as being “on the water” at the time of the deaths, arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
Dorset Police confirmed that the man, who was released on Thursday under investigation, was not known to the victims.
The victims were pulled from the sea at Dorset resort’s pier on Wednesday with “critical injuries” and pronounced dead by local hospitals.
‘Not any wiser’
Mohammed Rafiq, a friend of Sunnah’s grandfather and trustee at Wycombe Islamic Mission and Mosque Trust, said: “There were hundreds of people at the funeral, the mosque was basically overflowing. I know the extended family, they have been living in High Wycombe for the last 40 or 50 years, they are well-respected and well-known in the community. It’s a close-knit community here – everybody knows everybody.”
Rafiq said that much of the community and friends of the family are “not any wiser” about what exactly happened on Wednesday at Bournemouth beach. “All we know is just from hearsay,” he said.
The RNLI placed a large red banner with the word “Danger” emblazoned across it next to the pier after the incident, while on Friday, the Dorset Belle remained at anchor at Cobb’s Quay, Poole Harbour, guarded by a police van.
Tobias Ellwood, Conservative MP for Bournemouth East, said: “There needs to be a review, the police are conducting their investigation, there needs to be a review of the circumstances to see whether any safety measures and protocols need to be upgraded.
“I encourage Dorset Police to clarify the general circumstances of this tragic accident to avoid further wild speculation and uncertainty for parents who may be cautious about going to any part of the beach, unclear of exactly what happened.”