Beach-goer ‘unnerved’ by Camber Sands sea on day five men died

A beach-goer has told an inquest there were no warning signs about dangerous sea conditions on the day five young men drowned on a trip to the south coast.

Stephen Deacon said the sea seemed to be calm on the surface at Camber Sands, near Rye, East Sussex, but below the water, the strong current pushed him in and out.

He said: "It made me feel uncomfortable. It was pushing me in and out. It was like I couldn’t control my own body. The top seemed calm but below it was different."

Mr Deacon, who was in the water with three children and their dinghy at Camber Sands, described the current: "It unnerved me.

"I just headed back towards the beach as I had three children with me. I wouldn’t have gone to the beach if I knew it was like that."

He told the inquest in Hastings that there were "lots of pockets of shallow and deep holes", and added: "You couldn’t tell when these pockets would appear."

There were no warning notices about the nature of the sands and no flag was flying on 24 August 2016, the day of the tragedy, Mr Deacon said. The only warning was about the possibility of jellyfish.

Mr Deacon said later that day he saw five Asian men chest-deep in the water apparently playing volleyball before he later saw a Coastguard helicopter.

The five men who drowned were fit, healthy and competent swimmers and some had visited the beach at Camber before without any problems, the inquest has been told.

The five victims were Kenugen Saththiyanathan, 18, known as Ken, and his brother Kobikanthan Saththiyanathan, 22, known as Kobi, both of Erith, southeast London, and their friends Nitharsan Ravi, 22, of Plumstead, southeast London, Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, of Grays, Essex, and Gurushanth Srithavarajah, 27, of Welling, southeast London.

Two other people also lost their lives about a month before the five men died.

They were Mohit Dupar, 36, from Hayes, west London, who tried to reach Brazilian Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, as he got into difficulty, but both men died.

Their deaths are also being considered as part of the inquest into the five friends’ loss of life.

The deaths triggered calls for safety to be boosted at Camber and Rother District Council agreed in February to allocate £51,000 for seasonal lifeguard cover which started this summer but officials have said the beach, which is three miles (4.8km) long and nearly half a mile (700m) wide at low tide, could never be completely risk-free.

Beach patrol officers were involved mainly in land and beach-related issues, including reuniting lost children with their parents and issuing sandbar warnings, the inquest heard.

The inquest continues.

(c) Sky News 2017: Beach-goer ‘unnerved’ by Camber Sands sea on day five men died