THE parents of drowned brother and sister Tom and Jodi Loughlin yesterday said their loss was a tragedy "in a million".
Mr Kevin Loughlin and Ms Lynette Thornton, both 37, said their nightmare was "like the opposite end of winning the lottery".
It was the first time the couple from Norwood, south London, had spoken in public since the bodies of Tom and Jodi were found washed up on beaches off north Norfolk.
The children were just starting a week-long holiday with their parents when they disappeared from Holme beach near Hunstanton, Norfolk just over two weeks ago.
Mr Loughlin and his partner said they took their eyes off the pair for no more than five minutes.
The children's bodies were discovered in the last few days on beaches about 30 miles from Holme. Post mortem examinations showed both had drowned in the sea.
Speaking to journalists, the couple revealed some of what they had felt since Jodi and Tom vanished on August 18th.
Mr Loughlin, a computer consultant, said the couple had "paid the highest price" for taking their eyes off their children. "Obviously words don't really express how we feel about it," he said.
"With the best will in the world, I don't think there is a parent in the country who can honestly say that they keep their eye on their children at every moment.
"We have always been very careful to look after them the best way we possibly could. We have never lost them before. I think it was a chance in a million.
"It is like the opposite end of winning the lottery. How many parents over this summer will have taken their children to the beach? There must be hundreds of thousands, even millions.
Before Jodi's body turned up last Friday we were both hopeful that they would be found safe and well. Since Friday it has been very difficult."
The couple, who have remained in Norfolk since Tom and Jodi vanished, said they would be returning home in a "very short while" to make arrangements for the children's funeral.
