A father attempted to rescue his 18-year-old son when a rip current pulled the teen away from shore during a family vacation in Queensland, Australia. Despite the urgent efforts of both the father and a family friend, neither survived.
A hearing in Newport, Wales, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, determined that 47-year-old Robin Kenneth Reed and 18-year-old Owen Robin Reed died from causes “consistent with drowning” after the incident at Round Hill Head — a beach in the town of Seventeen Seventy — this past April, according to records from Gwent Coroner’s Service.
Area coroner Rose Farmer stated that the father “drowned whilst trying to rescue his son who had got into difficulty whilst in the sea.”
The Reed family had traveled from Wales to Brisbane to visit Shayane and Michael Evans and their children, according to WalesOnline. Three days into their trip, the group visited Round Hill Head — an area the visiting family had never been to before. The Evans family hoped to show their friends a fun day at a beach, since their guests did not live near the coast back home.
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Michael told the court he saw no warning signs indicating any danger as they approached the beach. “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,” he said, per WalesOnline. He described the conditions as “a little choppy but nothing dangerous.”
Shayane recalled watching the children playing. Owen was initially waist-deep near two other boys when, suddenly, he appeared to be caught in a rip. As Michael described at the hearing, “one second he was there and the next he wasn’t,” according to the BBC.
The coroner confirmed that Owen “was swept out to sea and drowned” after conditions changed abruptly.
Both Michael and Robin immediately rushed into the water to try to save the teen. However, the powerful current quickly overwhelmed them.
“The water felt like a bus hitting me, it was too rough to swim in. There was wave after wave rolling in the water,” Michael said, as reported by the BBC. Unable to reach either father or son, he was slammed against rocks and ultimately pulled out of danger by a tourist.
Shayane called emergency services as soon as she realized the situation had turned dire. A recovery helicopter joined the search effort, and responders worked urgently to locate the two missing swimmers.
Owen was eventually found washed ashore around 4 p.m. local time. He was declared dead approximately 15 minutes later. Shortly afterward, Robin’s body was recovered by helicopter and he was pronounced dead at 4:45 p.m., according to WalesOnline.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the coroner classified both deaths as a result of “misadventure.”
After the tragedy, a friend organized a GoFundMe campaign to support Robin’s widow. The organizer wrote that she is “going through an awful time, having lost both her son and husband in an unexpected accident whilst on holiday,” adding that she is also coping with being far from home while facing these unimaginable losses.
