A mother has said her teenage son had his life “snatched away” from him after two tragic drownings on Bournemouth beach.

Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton, and Sunnah Khan, 12, died after they, and eight other people, were caught in a rip tide on May 31 last year.

During an inquest into their deaths at Dorset Coroner’s Court, Joe’s mother Vanessa Abbess read an emotional statement which said: “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.”

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On the day of the incident Mrs Abbess dropped her son at the train station where he was meeting his friends to travel to Bournemouth.

At around 11.30am she received a text from Joe saying that he had gotten to the beach, but she did not hear from him again.

At around 3pm she texted him but got no reply, which she later found out was the time the incident began to unfold.

“Perhaps it was an intuition, maybe something had alerted me in the depths of my mind that I felt I needed to message Joe to check in on him,” said Mrs Abbess.

At 4.27pm she received a panicked call from Joe’s friend saying that he was in the sea before another call from a different friend saying ‘the waves had gotten crazy’ and that they were struggling to get Joe out.

She was later told by an A&E consultant not to rush to the hospital because ‘there was nothing more they could do for Joe’.

“I was devastated and so shocked at this news, I fell to my knees and sobbed, I was on my own and utterly heartbroken that Joe had died."

Saying her son's life was 'snatched away from him', she added: “Our family used to love beaches and found the sound of waves calming but now hearing this sends shivers down our spines.”

Mrs Abbess questioned the number of lifeguards on the beach and why safe swimming flags were installed on that area of the beach.

Sunnah's father Asim Khan agreed, telling the inquest: "I am really concerned that no one was looking for Sunnah before I mentioned that she was missing."

Following her death, Sunnah’s mother said: "How did it take 50 minutes to locate Sunnah in 5ft of water?”

She also slammed the local council for the lack of signage and information on the dangers of rip tides on the seafront.

Both families are now campaigning to improve sea safety education in schools.

Home Office forensic pathologist Dr Basil Purdue found both Joe and Sunnah’s medical cause of death to be drowning and said it was impossible to know what time it took place.

The hearing continues.