A university student on a day out with his friends died after entering the sea at Crosby beach.
An inquest at Bootle Town Hall today, Wednesday, heard Hamza Mansoor was at Crosby beach for a day out before he was swept out to sea at around 7pm on July 20. The 21-year-old Pakistan-born man was paddling in the sea with his friends but quickly found himself struggling to stay afloat as the tide turned.
The Staffordshire University student, who was living in Stoke at the time, was unable to swim and only one of his friends, Usman Aslan, could navigate the water. The group was soon separated before Usman was able to pull himself and friend Rizwan Zahoor onto a rock in the water.
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Usman then turned to see where his friends were and saw Hamza, Fida Hasan and Toqeer Ashraf Mohammad all struggling to stay afloat, with Hamza being the closest to him. Usman jumped back in and attempted to save them but he was pushed further under the water as Hamza tried to keep himself afloat.
Usman decided to swim to shore to get help as a nearby woman pulled the three struggling friends onto her paddle board. People on the beach then swam out to help and Hamza was brought to shore unconscious and not breathing.
Advanced paramedic Danielle Shaw told the inquest that Hamza had suffered a cardiac arrest.
Strangers gathered and gave Hamza CPR before paramedics arrived and started using a LUCAS machine and a defibrillator on him. Hamza and Toqeer Ashraf, who was in a critical condition, were both rushed to Aintree Hospital, before the 21-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital at 8.20pm.
In a statement read at the inquest, Usman described how when the group arrived at the beach they quickly stripped down to their underwear and ran into the water, despite just one of the five men being able to swim. He said: "We planned to stay in the shallow water because four of us couldn't swim. Myself and Rizwan stopped walking as the water got to our chests. We stayed in the water talking, laughing and holding hands for approximately three minutes."
The statement continued: "My leg hit a big rock. I pulled myself and Rizwan onto the rock and then I saw Hamza, Toqeer and Fida struggling. Hamza was the closest to me and I tried to pull him onto the rock but he ended up behind me and I was being pushed into the water."
During the inquest, senior coroner Julie Goulding said that the day should have been a "lovely day out" for the group of friends but this was ruined when they were swept out to sea. She also cited that they were "lucky" to have so many off-duty medical professionals on the beach at the time of the accident to assist before emergency services arrived.
Concluding the inquest, Ms Goulding gave a verdict of accidental death and that Hamza Mansoor had drowned after he "lost consciousness in the water". She said: "CPR was commenced on the beach but he failed to regain consciousness."
She added: "There were signs warning of the dangers of the beach were present at the time of Hamza's death."
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