Sea safety warning as deaths recalled 10 years on

Renewed sea safety warnings have been made on the 10th anniversary of the deaths of five friends at Camber Sands.

Kenugen Saththiyanathan, Kobikanthan Saththiyanathan, Nitharsan Ravi, Inthushan Sriskantharaja and Gurushanth Srithavarajah died after getting into difficulty in the water at the East Sussex beach on 24 August 2016.

The anniversary comes after four members of the same family died in the sea at Shoreham last week, prompting fresh discussion about water safety.

RNLI lifeguards at Camber Sands said they continued to warn visitors about the risks posed by fast-moving tides, while Helen Dollimore MP said that every death at sea was "one death too many".

Ankush Dupar, whose father Mohit died at Camber Sands in a separate incident in 2016 while trying to help another person in the water, also highlighted the dangers.

Mohit Dupar, 36, had attempted to reach Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, after he got into difficulty. The teenager died at the scene and Dupar died in hospital four days later.

Reflecting on the deaths of the five friends, Ankush Dupar said: "They had a big life ahead of them. Their family had a dream for them. They had their own dreams, but everything just died there when they passed away."

Describing what happened to his father, he said: "He said somebody needs my help and I need to try save him.

"I didn't know how to swim, he didn't either."

He added: "If there's young people, old people, or a toddler, anybody can drown."

Dollimore, MP for Hastings, Rye and the villages, said: "We have to get the message out there about the dangers of the sea.

"The current can change, the riptides can happen in places like Camber, but also cold-water shock is a real risk when we get hot weather."

Lifeguard Sarah Keast-Butler said that beach users should pay attention to safety signs and check the weather and tide times before visiting.

"As the tide goes out, we move the flags in line with the tide and these flags mark the safe swim zone where lifeguards are watching the water at all times," she said.

"We ask that everyone swims in between these flags so we can watch them as they're entering the water."

She added: "The biggest danger with the tides here is the tidal range and how quickly they come back in."

She said that the speed of the incoming tide could take people by surprise.

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