Drowning deaths of two teenage brothers off St Annes coast were tragic accidents, court rules

Muhammad Azhar Shabbir, 18, and Ali Athar Shabbir, 16, drowned after being caught up to their chests in the rapidly-rising tide near St Annes pier on August 15 2020.

The brothers were seen struggling in the water shortly after 6pm. Despite multiple 999 calls from family members and passers-by, it took approximately 40 minutes for lifeboats to arrive at the scene as emergency services struggled to locate them.

Further investigation from Lancashire police revealed, in an inquest at Blackpool town hall today, that signposts showing tide times in the area were out of date.

A sign from Fylde Council, located at the car park near the Monteray Beach Hotel where the Shabbir family parked, should have displayed the times for August, but instead showed the times for June and July.

It emerged that the person usually responsible for updating the sign was on leave at the time of the tragedy, and no arrangements had been made for a replacement during this time. However, Muhammad and Ali's mum Tasleem Shabbit told the inquest that even if the information was correct, they would not have seen the sign as the toilet block where it was located was busy, with people queing around it.

Coroner Andrew Cousins heard that Muhammad and Ali, who lived in Dewsbury, were visiting St Annes with family on August 15, and had gone into the sea with their 15-year-old cousin, Hamza, several times that day.

At around 6pm the three boys went into the water for one last paddle before returning home.

But when they tried to make their way back to shore, they found that the rising tide had filled gullies behind them.

Hamza was able to make it back to shore, but Muhammad and Ali, who had 'limited swimming ability', disappeared beneath the waves as their family and passers-by tried to save them.

Their mum, Taseem Shabbir, told the court how she stood on the phone to emergency services for around 40 minutes as the coastguard struggled to pinpoint their location.

She said: "Obviously there's nobody to blame here, but I don't know why it took so long for emergency services to arrive and why they couldn't understand where we were."

One witness, Joshua Nawab, ventured into the water to attempt to rescue the boys, who he said were about 10 to 15m away from dry land, but he was unable to reach them.

Another witness, Dr Amjad Kapadi, called for an ambulance as he said: "The young boy (Hamza) was quite wet and distressed, and I was worried he might be having a hypothermic attack."

Hamza was taken to hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia.

On the beach, the coastguard and RNLI crews from Blackpool, Lytham and Southport continued to search for Muhammad and Ali. They stood down several hours later.

The following day, the bodies of the two brothers were found on the beach close to where they were last seen alive. A post mortem found they had both drowned.

Detective inspector Kevin Simmons, who led the investigation, said: "Upon my arrival I saw two males face down on the sand approximately 20m from each other. Both boys were fully clothed apart from their footwear and there was no evidence of trauma that could not be attributed to their loss in the sea.

"The boys reportedly got into difficulties about 7pm in the evening prior to returning home. At that time the sea was turning with a high tide recorded at 9.20pm that day. Although they appeared to be in shallow water, the sea had risen behind them, gaining depth, and so they got into trouble trying to make it to shore."

Handing down a conclusion of accidental death, coroner Andrew Cousins said: "Between 6pm and 7pm Muhammad and Ali had gone into the sea to play and at this point the tide had turned and was incoming. The tide was still some way from the shoreline and it had taken some time for both Muhammad and Ali to walk out to the water.

"The area around the site is a long stretch of beach and I was informed that the tide can retreat a great distance over this area, however there are various sand banks and gullies on the beach.

"When the tide returns the tide can cover the area quite quickly. By the time of approximately 6.30pm to 7pm the vast majority of the incoming tide would have presented on the beach."

"It's clear to me that the incoming tide had advanced very rapidly over the area and that sadly the presence of the gullies and sand banks had lulled Muhammad and Ali into a false sense of security, and they were unaware of the depth of the water.

"Sadly they both got into difficulty in that incoming tide and were unable to escape from the sea.

"The search and rescue effort began, with the coastguard being notified at 7.08pm... The search unfortunately was unable to locate Muhammad or Ali and it was not until the following day that they were found deceased."