Samiha Rahman, 15, and her mother Shally Rahman, 41, died while trying to save a seven-year-old family member from drowning off a beach in Essex
A couple who tried to save a mother and daughter who drowned off West Mersea beach in Essex have said they “just wanted them to survive”. Samiha Rahman, 15, and her mother Shally Rahman, 41, died trying to save a seven-year-old family member who “got into trouble” as the tide came in on Wednesday.
Essex Police said officers were called by the ambulance service at 5.35pm after reports that several people had got into difficulty in the water near Seaview Avenue. Craig Bowe and his wife Carly were on a day trip from Hertfordshire, celebrating their daughter’s 10th birthday, when they heard a man call for help from the water. They told the BBC.
Mr Bowe, 42, swam out to help the struggling group while his wife spoke to the ambulance service over the phone. He was able to pull the mother and daughter from the waves and help the seven-year-old boy, now in hospital in a critical condition, and another child onto a lifeboat.
Mr Bowe, a kitchen fitter, told the BBC: “Initially, I thought that they were facing up, starfish, and trying to survive. So I swam out and thought maybe I could talk to them and try, as a team, to come back together. But when I got there, the first two people that I saw were actually face down, so more serious than I initially thought.”
Samiha and Shally Rahman were reportedly “not very good swimmers” and were just on a “day out” at the beach when they tried to save the boy after he got into trouble in the sea.
Once Mr Bowe had pulled the pair to shore, bystanders began administering CPR, and he returned to the water to help the seven-year-old boy and another child.
“I helped sort of shoo him onto the boat, because he was face down too… but the seven-year-old was not in a good way,” he said, “The waves were hitting me in the face. The current was definitely stronger.”
Mrs Bowe, who was among those trying to resuscitate Ms Rahman and Samiha, said: “I just wanted them to survive, and just every bit in me was willing her to breathe.
“But they were in the water for a long time, so it would have been hard. But everyone gave them the best chance they could.
“As soon as the paramedics arrived, they ran onto the beach and did a great job in taking over from the people that were doing chest compressions, and then we all stepped away to let them.”
She added: “They really worked endlessly. To the last minute that they could, and unfortunately, which it just wasn’t enough for those two.”
Mrs Bowe described the rescue attempt as a team effort, adding that “everybody on that beach that day played their part”.
Anyone who was in the area at the time and has information or footage which may help Essex Police’s investigation is asked to get in touch on 101 and quote incident 1090.
