The beach has been cleared along with nearby Pier Approach, police said
A 12-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy have died after being pulled from the sea off Bournemouth beach.
Eight other people were treated for non-life-threatening injuries after the incident, to which emergency services were called at 16:32 BST on Wednesday.
A man in his 40s who was on the water at the time has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, Dorset Police said.
A multi-agency investigation has been launched by authorities.
The boy and girl who died were both passed to the care of the ambulance service, HM Coastguard said.
The coastguard said it searched to make sure there were no other people missing and was “satisfied there are not”.
Emergency services, including a coastguard helicopter, were called to the scene near Bournemouth Pier.
South West Ambulance Service, two air ambulances, Poole and Southbourne coastguard rescue teams, Mudeford RNLI lifeboat and Dorset Police were all sent in support.
The beach was cleared along with nearby Pier Approach and the area was cordoned off, a police spokesman said.
Bournemouth beach had been packed with people enjoying the sunshine during the half-term break.
Eeman Qamar, from Southampton, was on the beach with her mother and three-month-old baby.
She told the BBC that just after 16:00 lifeguards began to tell people to clear the beach, saying there had been a major incident.
“After about 20 minutes, the first air ambulance arrived and landed right in the middle of the beach,” she said.
Ms Qamar continued: “The lifeguards started getting on jet skis and boats, searching the sea and about 20 minutes later the second air ambulance arrived and it took another hour-and-a-half for them to finish the whole search and rescue operation.”
Kathryn Walton, from Oxford, was also on the beach with her family at the time and described seeing lifeguards and “loads of people rushing on to the beach”.
She said people were moved away from an area of the beach as several other emergency service vehicles arrived at the scene.
“We don’t know what happened but we do think someone has potentially been swimming and has been caught awry in a difficult position,” she said.
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