Pleasure boat is impounded by police in Bournemouth beach tragedy trends now

A pleasure boat that was sailing nearby at the time of the Bournemouth beach tragedy where a 12-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy died has been impounded by police. 

The cruise boat called the Dorset Belle, which usually sails from Bournemouth Pier, has been placed under the guard of Poole Harbour. 

No one is currently allowed onboard or able to touch the vessel, which was guarded by a number of police officers this afternoon.

On the day of the horrendous incident, the Dorset Belle, had made numerous circuits around Bournemouth Pier and according to the online tracker MarineTraffic is was in the area where the tragedy unfolded on numerous occasions.

It follows police reports that the pair had not been hit by a jet ski and had not jumped off the pier. 

A police source told The Times: 'This vessel is under a police cordon. No one is permitted onboard or to touch the vessel.' 

Two uniformed police officers were seen inspecting the tourist boat at 4.20pm, the paper reported. 

MailOnline has contacted Dorset Police.

Dorset Police said earlier today that there had been no physical contact between the swimmers and any vessel. A man in his 40s, who had been 'on the water' at the time of the incident, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and remains in custody.

Eight other children were hurt after getting into trouble in the water close to the beach and pier in Dorset packed with half-term holidaymakers and locals yesterday afternoon.

But Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, Conor Burns, said he understood that a 'surface vessel' was in the sea around Bournemouth Pier at the time the 12-year-old girl and 17-year-old boy got into difficulty. 

He said: 'It would seem not a far reach to draw a conclusion that while the vessel may not have physically touched the young people perhaps it created the conditions which made being in the water more dangerous by the speed it was going.' 

Dorset Police Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Farrell said officers are investigating the 'circumstances or event' that caused a number of people to get into difficulty in the water in Bournemouth on Wednesday. But ACC Farrell refused to reveal what she believed had caused the tragedy despite asking the public not to speculate.

She said: 'Following our initial inquiries, a man aged in his 40s who was on the water at the time, has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

'As we have a person in custody, you will know there is only limited information I can give about the investigation.

'However, to avoid further speculation, I am able to tell you that it's clear that yesterday a number of people already in the water got into difficulty and we are investigating the circumstances or event that caused that to happen.

'Early investigation indicates that there was no physical contact between a vessel and any of the swimmers at the time of the incident. I can also confirm there is no suggestion of people jumping from the pier or jet-skis being involved.'

Councillor Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, said what happened in Bournemouth on Wednesday must have been a 'terrifying' experience.

She said: 'Again I want to add our sincere condolences to the families of the children who lost their lives, and our thoughts are with the families of the young people that were in the water.

'It must have been a really terrifying experience for everybody.

'The services worked incredibly well together. Our staff on the beach all rallied round to support the emergency services.'

She said there are additional staff available for the public on the beach on Thursday and over the weekend, adding: 'The beach is busy. We are making sure that the RNLI are very visible and that our teams are available there to support people and make sure that they feel safe on the beach.'

She said Bournemouth 'remains a really fantastic place to visit', adding that the incident needs to be investigated properly.

'And we are confident with our partners that any lessons that need to be learned in the future will will be learned,' she said.

Mackenzie Creech, 18, was with pals on the beach at the south coast holiday spot enjoying the sunshine when they heard shouts and screams from the pier.

He looked up and saw crowds pointing to someone in the water and rushed in with a pal to drag her onto the beach but sadly there was nothing they could do to save her.

The girl - who has not been named - died along with a 17-year-old boy in the incident which also left eight other children injured after it is believed they were dragged out to sea by a riptide after jumping from the pier.

Mackenzie told MailOnline: 'Everything happened so quickly, one minute I was enjoying the beach with some friends and then the next we heard screaming and shouting.

'We were on the other side of the pier but you could hear all this noise so we went over to see what was going on and people were pointing into the water.

'I could see a body in the water, and just rushed in and scooped her up with someone else. She was face down when I got there and not moving.

'She was in a bad way.

'She was in a swimming costume but she didn't appear to have any injuries on her. There were no cuts or bruises and I just knew it didn't look good so I carried her onto the beach.

'I put her down on the sand and by this time the emergency services had come over and they started doing CPR on her.

'People were screaming and shouting and it was all really chaotic and then someone put some towels up as a screen while the paramedics worked on her.

'I was hoping she would make it and I didn't know she had passed away until I saw it on the news. I was gutted when I heard that and it's upset me, it's so sad something like this happened.'

Mackenzie, who is from Tilehurst near Reading and studying sport at college, added: 'I don't really know what happened. It was all a bit confusing.

'People were saying they had been hit by a jet ski or a boat but there were definitely no injuries on the girl. There was no blood or cuts or anything like that.

'What amazed me was the amount of people who were just filming everything on their phones when the emergency services were trying to do their work.

'As I left a policeman took my details and said thanks for doing what I did but I just did what anyone would have done.'

Mackenzie's father company director Robert Creech, told MailOnline: 'He was very quick in his actions and was just trying to help.

'When he told me about it, I could see he was upset and when we heard the poor girl had passed away, he was gutted.

'It's such a shame as all those involved are so young.

'He had just gone down to the beach with his friends for half term and then this happened but I'm proud he did what he could

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