New images reveal a pleasure boat impounded by police during their investigation into the deaths of two children was near the pier prior to the incident.
Dozens of tourists were on the Dorset Belle just minutes before 10 people got into trouble in the water on Wednesday – with a boy, 17, and a girl, 12, later pronounced dead.
The boat – which sets off throughout the day from the North Beach’s Victorian pier – has since been impounded by police at Cobb’s Quay Marina in Poole.
A man in his 40s arrested on suspicion of manslaughter has been released under investigation.
Images from show the boat, which was in the water within half an hour of 999 calls being made for the children, was close to the pier where they were found, the Mirror reports.
The man who took the photos, Luke Owen, said the 4pm trip – which lasted around 40 minutes – was the first the boat had made since Monday afternoon due to the bad weather and conditions.
Luke, 35, from Kingston, south west London, was on a three-day holiday on the south coast with his wife and two children.
He said lifeguards had made announcements warning people about riptides and not to swim close to the pier prior to the tragedy.
The group on board did not know about the incident until they docked at the pier and discovered the beach had been evacuated.
He told the Mirror: “When we looked no one was on the beach and before we left everyone was on the beach. It was empty, everyone was just staring.
The dad then spoke to the boat operator, who told him someone had been pulled from the water, while another was still missing.
“As he’s told me that, we looked up to the sea and the 17-year-old was being pulled out. The ambulance came across and collected him.”
He said: “Nothing really affects me but when it’s something like that it kind of hits you.
“Especially as I was with the family, my little one especially, I wanted to get out of there.
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