THE FAMILY of Callum Osborne-Ward, who remains unaccounted for after rescuing his family from the sea at Rockley Point, are calling for school children to learn about the dangers.

The missing teenager was last seen in the water near Rockley Holiday Park.

Everyone bar Callum is now accounted for – three people were taken to hospital as a precautionary measure – following the incident at around 4pm on Monday.

His family have joined Mayor of Poole Julie Bagwell, in calling for better signposting at Rockley beach and for more water safety awareness to be taught in schools.

Councillor Bagwell, who is liaising with the family, said: “What they’re talking about is education.

“We’d like to get more awareness of the currents and tides and get children to understand that it’s nature – it can be seriously dangerous and you have to respect it.

“We’re also hoping that Rockley put in their welcome pack about the fact that it is a dangerous part of the harbour and it’s not recommended to be swam in.”

A multi-agency search and rescue operation is ongoing.

On Tuesday, two Poole lifeboats were called out to an object floating in the water near Rockley holiday park – nothing was untoward and they stood down at 12am.

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: “Prevention and safety education are key to the RNLI and we have trained volunteers who are experts that often share information, that educate and signpost people to safety initiatives and campaigns.

“All our volunteers, from crew to fundraisers, will engage and talk to people sharing messages like‘float to live’.

"Float to live is a campaign that has saved lives, people may find themselves in difficulty even if the air is warm, the water can be dangerously cold with strong currents and the message is ‘If you get in trouble in the water, #FloatToLive. Lean back, extend your arms and legs, and float’.

"Here at Poole lifeboat, our water safety team have held lifejacket clinics at marinas and yacht clubs and recently, through our social feeds, we promoted ‘Swim Safe’, these are free summer water safety sessions for children aged 7-14 that also share beach safety advice to help people find a safe place to enjoy the sun, sand and sea in the summer, this has been extremely popular and has now finished for the summer.

"We have RNLI education volunteers that visit, youth groups, Brownies, Scouts, schools and so on, to talk about beach safety, tomb stoning and the risks of inflatable toys and offshore winds, we also visit other groups, if anyone is interested in a talk please contact us via our website poolelifeboats.org.uk.

"We share our rescue stories, to also educate and to promote the work that volunteers do, we never condone, we are there to help and perhaps subliminally educate, if one person can recall, the float to live or to wear a lifejacket, or have the means to call for help, then it may save their life.

"When you’re heading to a beach, we urge you to respect the water and visit a lifeguarded beach.

"On a lifeguarded beach there are trained professionals to help keep you safe, they’ll be on hand if something goes wrong, in or out of the water. Follow safety advice to protect yourself and your loved ones.

“Our hearts go out to Callum's family, if we can all collectively reach out through this tragic time to get the safety messages out there to help other people understand the risks, then we hope that Callum's family can take some peace from this.”

BCP councillor Mohan Iyengar spoke yesterday in a council 'ask the leader' live video about the need for action.

He told the Echo: “I am absolutely with Julie on this completely and equally, the RNLI work tirelessly to ensure all of our coastline

“We fully support the family and we are fully behind it - let’s reinforce some of the messages from the council, RNLI and Poole Harbour Commissioners as well and use this most unfortunate occurrence to actually reinforce some of the things we already have.

“There’s no question that there’s more things we have got to do on this, whether it’s education enforcement or better allocation of resources but equally let’s do it in a thoughtful way.”