A coroner has not ruled out the involvement of a sightseeing boat in the death of a 12-year-old girl from Buckinghamshire.

Sunnah Khan, 12, from High Wycombe and Joe Abbess, 17, from Southampton drowned near the pier at Bournemouth beach on May 31 after they were suspected to have been caught in a riptide.

Dorset Police impounded the pleasure cruiser Dorset Belle after the incident but later made the "evidence-based decision" that the movement of the boat had not contributed to the dangerous sea conditions at the time of the incident.

However, at a pre-inquest review held at Bournemouth Town Hall yesterday (September 18), Dorset coroner Rachel Griffin said the boat would be the subject of further examination at the full inquest.

She said: "At the moment I do not know what the cause of the rip current was. It's too early for me to rule out the movement of the boat."

Ms Griffin said that this was distinct to the actions of a Mr Palmer who was operating the boat. The coroner's office refused to provide Mr Palmer's first name when requested by the PA News Agency.

Ms Griffin said that she would be seeking expert advice to help find the cause of the incident and said: "I want an expert who may be able to help me with the weather, tidal movements and causes of rip currents."

She added that she wanted details of risks identified also involving the Dorset Belle in August 2021 when 17 people were reportedly rescued from the water. 

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Ms Griffin said she would also be looking at any risk assessments carried out by Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council into safety at the beach and the sea near the pier.

The coroner detailed that, according to CCTV footage, people were first seen to be in difficulty at 3:45pm on May 31 and an RNLI lifeguard first noticed the situation at 3:53pm.

She said that 999 calls were first made at 4.05pm with the Coastguard being notified at 4.12pm and Dorset Police at 4.34pm.

Ms Griffin said that Joe was found at 4:18pm but Sunnah was not found until 4:45pm.

She said that Sunnah's parents, Stephanie Williams and Asim Khan, had raised concerns about what steps had been taken to find and rescue their daughter.

“Sunnah’s family raise the concern and question what was happening in that hour to locate Sunnah.

“The greatest difficulties I have are connecting these delays with her death as I do not know when she died as she may have died moments after getting into difficulty.

“At this time I have insufficient evidence to see when she died. If I am not able to establish that, I won’t be able to establish whether what happened in that hour had any bearing or not.”

Ms Griffin adjourned the hearing until a further pre-inquest review on January 23 with another hearing set for June 20 with the full hearing, expected to last three weeks, to start on September 23.