Aown Dogar was described as a "much loved student" due to his "great sense of humour"
A teenage boy drowned in the River Thames after his friends thought his distress was part of a game they were playing, an inquest has heard.
Aown Dogar, 13, from Oxford, was playing piggy in the middle and tag in waist-deep water near Donnington Bridge, south of the city.
Oxford Coroner's Court heard Aown started waving his arms and shouting for help on 25 June.
He was playing with his brother and a friend while his sister looked on.
They were in a stretch of river at the bottom of a friend's garden.
'Missed by inches'
A neighbour tried to save Aown by jumping in the river
In a statement, the friend, aged 12, said: "All of a sudden Aown was waving his hands in the river above the water.
"I said he was fine and probably just joking.
"I tried to reach out to grab Aown's hand as he floated past.
"It missed it by a few inches."
Although a neighbour had dived in to save the teenager, he was discovered unresponsive in the river by fire crews about 50 minutes later.
'Harmless fun'
Alison Thompson, assistant coroner for Oxfordshire, concluded the death was accidental during a hearing at the County Hall in Oxford.
She said it had been "harmless fun" but Aown had been taken out of his depth by a ledge in the river.
She said he disappeared from view quite quickly and he could have been trapped by vegetation in the water.
School children released paper boats into the river in memory of Aown shortly after his death
Det Sgt James Mather, of Thames Valley Police, said he believed Aown was not a particularly strong swimmer.
A doctor established Aown's cause of death as drowning.
The inquest heard a review will now take place to establish whether action should be taken to prevent a similar incident from happening.
Aown was a student at Cheney School, which described Aown after his death as a "much loved student within Cheney due to his great sense of humour and fun loving personality".
- Published26 June 2015
