BBC News today
Five men who died at Camber Sands could have got into trouble after failing to realise how quickly the tide would come in, the RNLI believes.
The men were on a day trip from London to the Sussex resort on Wednesday.
The RNLI said it did not believe that rip currents were responsible for the deaths. Police said the group were in their late teens and early 20s.
One of the victims, Nitharsan Ravi, drove to the resort with four friends, his brother Ajirthan told the BBC.
He identified two of the other men as Kobi and Ken Nathan, from Erith in south-east London.
The RNLI said it believed all five men fell into deep channels of water between sand-bars - mounds of sand created by wave and tide activity - which had been made deeper with the weekend storms.
Extremely fast tides
Guy Addington, from the RNLI, said: "It's very difficult to know at the moment, we don't have the full information, but it's possible that they were cut off by the series of sand-bars."
He said rip currents could occur at Camber but the sea was so calm on Wednesday that this was unlikely, and it was more likely sand-bars were involved.
"It's entirely possible and it does happen at Camber that people become cut off on the series of sand bars that are extensive on that part of the coast," he added.
He said there could be a 3ft (1m) difference between the the top of a sand-bar and the trough and added: "An increase of depth of 3ft to a non-proficient or non-swimmer can be really significant."
Mr Addington also said because Camber was a "shallow, shelving beach", the tide could go out and race in extremely fast - faster than someone could walk quickly.
"Add to that the complication of the undulating sand-bars, that can catch people out quite easily," he said.
|