Three men die after being pulled from sea on hottest day of the year

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "The three men, who have not yet been identified, sadly died despite efforts to save them."

Beachgoers were being urged to stay out of the sea as medics helped the three people.

It is the second serious incident to take place recently at Camber Sands, which with its sand dunes has long been a popular destination for beachgoers.

Last month 19-year-old Brazilian Gustavo Silva Da Cruz died after getting into difficulty while swimming in the sea there.

Mr Da Cruz, who was visiting family in Croydon, south London, was one of three men who got into trouble. The two others, who were not connected to him, included a man aged 35 and his son aged 17.

The Camber Sands deaths came as police said that a two-year-old girl who was swept into the sea with her father had also died in hospital.

Mckayla Bruynius died at Bristol Children's Hospital on Tuesday night, having been caught by a large wave at Fistral beach in Newquay, Cornwall, last Friday.

Her father, Rudy Bruynius, was also killed, during a weekend in which a total of six people were killed in tragedies around the coast.

One eye-witness at Camber Sands, Natalja Taylor, 30, who was on a day-trip with her husband, said police were driving up the beach with a loudhailer urging people to stay out of the sea.

She said: "We were sat on a hill a bit further away and we saw three people being pulled out of the water. I think the people who rescued them were regular people, not emergency personnel.

"We don't know what condition they were in. There were so many people there. They were still on the beach when we left.

"Police drove on to the beach with a loudspeaker, telling people not to go into the water until further notice. They also taped off a huge chunk of the beach so no-one could get near it.

"It's pretty scary. I'm not sure how it happened. We decided not to go into the sea after seeing warning signs about some kind of fish. It wasn't particularly windy down there, it was just a hot, sunny beach day.

"There was a lot of people on the beach, particularly for a weekday. We're now just hoping that everyone involved is okay."

The Lydd and Lee-on-Solent-based UK Coastguard search-and-rescue helicopters were also scrambled to the scene, along with an air ambulance. An RNLI lifeboat from Rye and Coastguard rescue teams are also there.

Suggestions that the deaths may be linked to jellyfish have been ruled out, and there was nothing to suggest the men were migrants. One beach-goer said police told her to stay out of the sea due to a rip tide.

Police remained on the beach as day-trippers said they were surprised there were no lifeguards present.

One, who declined to be named, said: "We noticed when we came here that there were no lifeguards. We had kids here and we were worried about them."

He said he could not understand why the men had run into difficulties as the sea appeared calm to him.

He went on: "The sea is very shallow for quite a long way. It seems so strange how they got into trouble. There was no waves and no wind."

Paula Day, 49, from the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, said: "The first thing we saw was a helicopter flying really low.

"And then later we saw someone being resuscitated. Police were telling everyone to get out of the sea because of a rip tide.

"It was heaving with people here. We have been coming here for years and we have never seen anything like this.

"The sea was fine."

A statement from Rye Harbour lifeboat station said: "Three males, unresponsive, had been dragged from the water at Camber and the Coastguard were not sure if there were any more in the water.

"The lifeboat carried out a comprehensive search from Rye Harbour entrance to the Suttons at Camber with nothing found.

"The lifeboat was then retasked to search for a possible missing woman off the Suttons.

"Again, a full search was carried out with nothing found. The lifeboat was stood down by Coastguard at 5.20pm and returned to station."