Incident Report: Anwaar Ali Ahmed
Feb 02, 2022Homepage > Incident Reports > Inland Waters
Anwaar Ali Ahmed (18 years old) was celebrating his birthday on a day trip out with six college friends who met at Brent Cross to celebrate completing their A-Level exams on Friday 4 July 2009. Mr Ahmed, known as Ali, suggested to friends that they take a tour into the countryside to see the Henley Royal Regatta.
Mr Ahmed and his friends arrived and sat on the bank watching the Regatta. He and his friends entered the River Thames at around 19:45 at a popular beauty spot on the banks of Medmenham. Mr Ahmed was 6ft tall and a strong swimmer. The river was around 40-50 metres wide when Mr Ahmed entered (Nadal, 2009).
Mr Billal Khan (19 years old) later recounted what happened next at the coroner’s inquest (Allen, 2009; Farr, 2009):
We were all by the bank and were talking. Anwaar rolled up his jeans and started wading into the water. He said he wanted to swim to the other side. He then took off his jeans and shirt and was just in his boxers but said he didn't want to go by himself.
Anwaar told me to go first, so I took off my clothes, jumped in and set off. It was a lot harder than I thought, I was very tired as it was a very long length. While I was swimming, I looked behind me a couple of times but couldn't really see anything. I reached the other side and used a rope to pull me up.
Everyone started shouting at me to get back into the river as Anwaar was drowning. I then heard Anwaar shouting for help shortly before I saw him sink under the water.
I reached him and grabbed hold of him but he held me down and tried to catch some breath. I sank down, but then I got back to the surface. He tried to grab my shoulders again. I told him to hold on to me and I would swim us across, but he was very nervous and panicked.
I grabbed one of his arms and I told him to flip his legs but he couldn't and he sank even lower. I kept hold of his hands, but that’s when I started losing my breath. I pushed him up one more time, and that’s when he let go of my hand and he was gone.
A passenger on a nearby boat, who had seen the events unfold and moved towards the incident to assist, then shouted to Mr Khan to return to the bank. Mr Omer Akhtar (19 years old) stood helplessly on the bank. A call to the police was made at 19:48 requesting help and a search crew (Nadal, 2009).
At approximately 23:49 the same evening, PC Peter Darling late told the coroner’s court that he found Mr Ahmed wearing black boxer shorts, face down in 2.4 metre-deep water (Allen, 2009; Nadal, 2009). Mr Ahmed had last spoken to his mother, Mrs Mehmuda Ahmed, on his mobile phone at 18:15. Mrs Ahmed described Anwaar as (Moult, 2009):
At around 23:15, two policemen came to my door and said there were two boys in the water and that one managed to get out, but my son was still missing.
Everything went dark. I was praying to God. His friends later said they were having a race. Within two minutes he had reached the other side, but whilst they were coming back, something happened to his breathing, and he put his hand up for help.
His friends and a man from a boat dived in. They held his hand three times, but he slipped under.
He was my best friend. I just feel like dying and haven't slept a moment. He was everything to me, I just can't tell you how close we were.
In these 18 years, he gave me the love of 100 years. He was never an outgoing person, but he was friendly with everybody.
I had bought him new shirts, new trousers and new aftershave. The trip was the biggest gift I could have given him for his birthday.
Mr Ahmed had been due to fly to Pakistan the following day to see his fiancée. Mr Ahmed and Mr Khan were both students at the College of North West London. Mr Ahmed died on the day after his 18th birthday. Anwaar's 16-year-old brother, Haseeb, said his brother had loved the water from an early age and was an experienced swimmer (Moult, 2009):
He was a role model and more like a father and friend than a brother. He always looked out for me and would call me more than my mother to check I was safe.
I had great respect for him, he had an old head on such young shoulders. He planned to study in Germany for a year as part of his computing degree.
The coroner, Richard Hulett, recorded a verdict of accidental death. He warned of the inherent dangers of swimming in public waterways (Farr, 2009; Proctor, 2009; BBC, 2009):
The unhappy truth is that when the sun comes out and the weather is nice, people tend to be in high spirits and get into rivers and swim. Swimming across the Thames anywhere is a very dangerous enterprise. Not only are there obstructions and boats, but when you are standing on the side of the bank it doesn't seem that far.
From the bank, it doesn't look too far, but when you're swimming against the current in cold water, it's exhausting. Quite often people who try to swim the Thames pay for it very severely.
References (9)
Note: I wish those affected all the best in their future. No part of this article purports to attribute blame. See our methodology page for further details of how these case summaries are constructed.
Allen, F. (2009). Friend’s desperate fight to save student who drowned in Thames. (Evening Standard, 24th September). Available at: https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/friend-s-desperate-fight-to-save-student-who-drowned-in-thames-6773807.html accessed 2nd February 2022.
Asian Image. (2009). Teenager died day before Pakistan visit. (23rd September). Available at: https://www.asianimage.co.uk/news/4645359.teenager-died-day-before-pakistan-visit/ accessed 2nd February 2022.
BBC News. (2009). Student drowned on birthday swim. (23rd September, 21:41). Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/beds/bucks/herts/8271930.stm accessed 2nd February 2022.
Farr, S. (2009). Inquest. Teenager dies swimming across Thames. (23rd September). Available at: https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/4645512.inquest-teenager-dies-swimming-across-thames/ accessed 2nd February 2022.
Harrow Times. (2009). Friend’s bid to save South Harrow teen who drowned in Thames. (24th September). Available at: https://www.harrowtimes.co.uk/news/4646680.friends-bid-to-save-south-harrow-teen-who-drowned-in-thames/ accessed 2nd February 2022.
Moult, J. (2009). Student drowns in Thames while celebrating his 18th birthday with friends. (Mail Online, 10th July). Available at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198603/Teenager-drowned-Henley-Regatta-going-swim-Thames-friends.html accessed 2nd February 2022.
Nadal, J. (2009). Teenager drowns in River Thames. (Bucks Free Press, 7th July). Available at: https://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/4478885.teenager-drowns-in-river-thames/ accessed 2nd February 2022.
Proctor, I. (2013). I couldn’t save drowning friend. (My London, 1st October, 14:35; first published 30th September, 00:00). Available at: https://www.mylondon.news/news/local-news/i-couldnt-save-drowning-friend-6005821 accessed 2nd February 2022.
Proctor, I. (2013). Tributes to drowned South Harrow son. (My London, 1st October, 12:17; first published 8th July 2009, 00:00). Available at: https://www.mylondon.news/news/local-news/tributes-drowned-south-harrow-son-6006843 accessed 2nd February 2022.
Citation: Jacklin, D. 2022. Case Summary: Anwaar Ali Ahmed. Water Incident Research Hub, 2 February.
