An 18-year-old man sacrificed his own life by letting go of his older sister in the sea having just saved his two nephews and a niece from a fierce riptide off the Dorset coast, an inquest heard.
Callum Baker-Osborne was exhausted after swimming to the rescue of the three young children and briefly clung on to his sister, Samantha Osborne-Ward, for help.
Realising that he risked drowning them both, he let his sister go, allowing her to reach safety, before he vanished in the water. His body was found four days later.
At the start of the inquest in Bournemouth, Baker-Osborne’s family released photos of Callum on the beach with one of his nephews minutes before the tragedy.
The incident happened on the afternoon of 26 July 2021, after the large family, from Coventry, arrived for a caravan holiday in Hamworthy, Poole.
Some of the 30 family members went to the beach at Rockley Point for a paddle but a strong wave knocked everyone into deeper water, prompting Baker-Osborne to dive in to help his nephew Byron.
He then helped Cameron, another of his nephews, get to safety before hearing his sister’s shout for help as her seven-year-old daughter, Aurora, was being dragged away. He reached her and lifted her into a rescue boat.
The current brought him and his sister together and he clung to her. But when they went under again, she told him that she was drowning and he instantly let go.
Samantha Osborne-Ward told the hearing that her brother, who was a keen swimmer and very fit because of rugby training, had been excited to go to the beach and take the children swimming.
The family had not been to many beaches before, and because of Covid some of the younger ones had not even seen the sea.
Osborne-Ward said: “A sudden big gush of water tugged us under. It was the biggest blast, we all got wiped out and then we struggled up.”
She told how her brother helped the small children before he drifted towards her. “He held on to me for help, he was exhausted. I told him he was drowning me and he instantly let go.”
Describing the power of the water, Ann Marie Osbourne, Baker-Osborne’s mother, said: “Suddenly the floor was gone. I was being pushed around in a spiral. I couldn’t understand what was happening.”
An air and sea search was launched but Baker-Osborne’s body was not discovered until 30 July. A postmortem examination confirmed he died from drowning.
The inquest continues.
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