A father and son tragically died after getting into difficulty in the sea during a family holiday.
Robin Reed, 46, and Owen Reed, 17, from Caerphilly, had been in Australia visiting another family when they took a day trip to Round Hill Head, Seventeen Seventy, in Queensland, Australia.
Owen had got into difficulty in the water after the sea conditions “changed in an instant” before his dad jumped into the water to try and rescue him.
Tragically, both of them drowned during the incident, an inquest hearing at Gwent Coroners’ Court in Newport heard on Wednesday morning (November 12), reports Wales Online.
They father and son flew into Brisbane to meet with Shayane and Michael Evans, and their children.
The inquest heard how on April 10, Michael picked the Reed family up from the airport. Three days later on April 13 the two families went to Seventeen Seventy for a day trip because the Evans family wanted to show them the beach as they didn’t live near any beaches themselves.
The family had never been there before.
Shayane and her Michael both said they hadn’t passed any signs saying they couldn’t access the beach or that it would be unsafe to swim.
Michael said the water was “a little choppy but nothing dangerous”.
He added: “I’m very protective of my children and I wouldn’t have gone down if there was anything to suggest we shouldn’t have gone down.”
When they arrived at the beach Michael, Owen, and some of the other children went straight into the sea. Shayane recalled: “At no time did I have any worries or concerns about where they were swimming.”
Shayane recalled how after taking a short break on the beach the children went back into the sea and she could clearly see them swimming.
She said: “I was up on the rocks watching Owen, he was only about waist deep if that and he was with two other boys stood together. I’m not sure if a wave hit him or what but I could see him start to drift out in a rip.”
The inquest heard how Shayane shouted to her husband and Robin Reed to try and help Owen who was trying to swim back to the beach but was struggling.
Michael added “Owen went out further but he was older and taller than the others. It turned in an instant. Huge waves started coming in, one second he was there and the next he wasn’t. At the same time my wife jumped up and shouted ‘babe’.
“He wasn’t where he was originally, he was trying to swim and keep his head up. He was fighting to keep his head above the water.
“I swam towards Owen and Robin did as well. The water felt like a bus hitting me, it was rough and picking me up. I tried to swim towards him but there was wave after wave and I couldn’t move towards him at all.”
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