TWO teenage boys who drowned at sea off Barmouth had been warned not ‘to venture too far out’, an inquest heard.

Fourteen-year-old Yayhe Omar Mohamed and his friend 15-year-old friend, Waseem Muflahi, went missing at sea during a day trip to the Meirionnydd seaside town with a group from the Yemeni Community Association on Friday, 7 August.

During an inquest in Caernarfon, a member of the group visiting on that tragic day, Mahdi Farah, said how he’d gone to the shoreline on the beach with both of the teenagers and his young daughter.

He said: “As we were on the beach I saw my daughter was getting upset so I said to Yayhe and Waseem that I needed to take her back and told them not to go too far out.

“When I came back as I saw them both out at sea, I should have called for help at that point but I decided to go out to sea myself and help them.

“All of a sudden a strong wave came crashing down and dragged us further out – I kept telling them to stay calm.

“I managed to grab Waseem and told him to put his hands on my shoulders, I thought if we all managed to hold on to each other we could swim back but the waves kept pushing us back. It was a constant struggle to try and keep them both up.

“I realised then I had to go back and get help but as I was swimming back I got cramp in my leg so it took longer for me to get to shore.”

Two beach wardens came to Mr Farah’s aid and also went into the sea to try and rescue the two teenage boys but were unable to reach them due to the strong undertow.

Mr Farah, who only met Waseem that day, but knew Yayhe very well, said neither of the boys had swam in the sea before.

He added: “It was our first time to Barmouth, I didn’t know Waseem till that day but I know Yayhe was no swimmer.”

Barmouth harbourmaster Anthony Glyn Jones said he alerted the beach wardens and the rescue services when he was alerted to the incident around 2pm.

He attended the shoreline and and instructed one of the wardens to throw a towline toward the teenage boys.

He said: “As we threw the towline out another wave came crashing which forced the casualties to drift further out.

“As the wardens were providing aid to one of the casualties, Mahdi Farah, I kept my eyes on the two still at sea.

“As the inshore lifeboat arrived I saw one of the casualties go under water and then the second casualty went under.”

Mr Jones told the inquest that the group had been instructed by the beach wardens that morning not to go into the water as there was a ‘heavy surf’.

The bodies of both boys were found washed up close to Barmouth a week later.

No post-mortems was carried out on the bodies but north west senior coroner Dewi Pritchard Jones said he was satisfied that the boys had drowned.

Mr Pritchard Jones said: “Both boys had no experience of swimming at sea.

“They were both, as you would expect from young boys, enjoying themselves and were accompanied by Mr Farah, who had warned them not to go out too far.

“However, they both went out further than they should have done and due to their lack of experience they were unaware of the dangers.

“I have heard how Mr Farah tried to rescue the boys as well as the beach wardens. The beach wardens are not lifeguards and are not meant to be go into the sea, I don’t believe even if there were lifeguards on the beach they would have been able to achieve anything in this incident.

“What happened is a classic example of two active, healthy boys going swimming and not realising the dangers. They were caught in an undertow and drowned.”

Mr Jones recorded that both teenage boys had died as a result of an accident and said there was nothing he could recommend to stop any further incidents such as this in future and that there is always a risk when swimming at sea.

Following the inquest on behalf of the family, PC Arwyn Jones from North Wales, said they would like to thank everyone who was involved in the rescue attempts of the two boys.