Father and son died after being swept away by wave

A WELSH dad and son had been playing with their family at a beach in Australia when they drowned after a huge wave hit.

- JONATHON HILL

Robin Reed, 46, was playing with his children at Round Hill Head in the Seventeen Seventy area of Queensland on Sunday, April 13, when his son Owen Reed, 17, who had been no more than a metre away from him, was swept out further into the sea by the fierce wave, an inquest opening at Newport Coroners' Court heard on Monday.

Robin swam further into the sea to try to help his son, but both of them were swept out further again.

Robin and Owen, from Blackwood, Caerphilly borough, were both later found in the water by search and rescue teams who had been called by eyewitnesses. There is only one beach patrolled by lifeguards within a 50km radius of Seventeen Seventy.