Brother and sister both drown during game to see who could swim farthest

A brother and sister in Britain drowned during a game to see who could swim the farthest out from shore — an incident ruled a “tragic accident” in an inquest this week, according to new reports.

Malika Shamas, 14, was swimming near Clacton Pier in Essex last Aug. 8, when she got to a point that she was still able to stand up, but panicked, the BBC reported.

Her brother Haider Shamas, 18, and two cousins rushed to her aid, but it was too late.

Malika was rushed to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead, and her brother died two days later of pneumonia, brain damage and drowning.

The siblings could both swim, the inquest heard, but they had been competing with their cousins to go deeper and deeper into the sea, The Mirror reported.

Their tearful mom Shagufta Shamas told the coroner she “entered the water to try to help some of the children,” according to the report.

“The sand underneath my feet was giving way and I was trying to reach this little girl,” she said. “This happened within minutes. Should there not have been signs in this particular area saying that you should not go in and that this is what can occur?”

Essex’s senior coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray said that warning signs near the water should be typed in a larger print and appear in a child-friendly format, according to the report.

Beasley-Murray told the grieving mom she “displayed the utmost dignity” during the probe into the incident.

“[Your children] were clearly very much-loved people with bright futures ahead of them,” she said, according to the BBC. “I do hope you will be able to look back on the happy memories you have of them both.”

via: https://nypost.com/2020/02/19/brother-and-sister-drown-during-game-to-see-who-could-swim-furthest/

Photo Credit: Majid Riaz /SWNS.COM