Father tells of son's desperate attempt to save girl from sea in Bournemouth
A father from Reading has said his teenage son has been left "shaken and very upset" after he desperately tried to rescue a young girl from the sea at Bournemouth beach.
Rob Creech said his son Mackenzie rushed over in the water to try and help. He brought her back to the shore before paramedics arrived and started doing CPR.
Emergency services including two air ambulances, the coastguard, fire and rescue and police descended on the beach shortly after 4:30pm on Wednesday (31 May).
A 12-year-old girl, from Buckinghamshire, and a 17-year-old boy from Southampton were taken to hospital where they later died. Eight others were rescued.
A man in his 40s, who was on the water at the time, who was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, has now been released under investigation while enquiries continue.
Rob Creech said his son Mackenzie rushed into the water to help.
Rob Creech said his son went to Bournemouth with a few friends during their half term break.
The group were swimming near the pier when they heard a "big commotion" and Rob's son, Mackenzie went over to help the girl.
Rob explained: "They were in the sea and just swimming about by the pier until all of a sudden there was a big commotion on top of the pier and lots of people shouting and screaming that there was a problem on the other side. My son then decided to try and swim across to the other side to the pier to see what all the commotion was.
"When he got there, there was a young girl...he scooped her up and by this time the emergency services were already on the beach. He shouted for help, he managed to get her ashore and the emergency services took over.
"He didn't see a thing as he was the other side of the pier. He didn't see anyone jumping or any jet skis or anything either. It was purely people shouting from the top of the pier that there was a problem that alerted him to swim to the other side.
"He's obviously very upset with the events of the day and quite shaken."
"I'm immensely proud, words can't describe it. What he did was amazing. The thing that's really upsetting him is that he wasn't able to save the young girl. He just wishes he could have gotten there that much earlier to be able to maybe save her."
"I'm gutted for them. Nobody should lose a child, whatever age that is. It's just heartbreaking and I just cannot think what they're going through. It's just unbelievable."