The five, all from Greater London, had traveled in a car belonging to
Ravi, a student at the University of Brighton studying aeronautical
engineering. One theory is they had been playing football on a sandbar
and got cut off by a strong tide.
Camber Sands is known for its wide, flat beach and is
understood to have a number of sand bars which can become cut off when
the tide comes in.
Witness Hannah Chatfield described how she helped drag one of the men out of the water after the alarm was raised.
She
said: "The first man was pulled out of the sea unconscious. Maybe
20 minutes later, a woman came over shouting, and saying there's more in
there.
"Me and my boyfriend went to get
him because the (emergency services) were with the first guy. We were
on the beach for about 45 minutes trying to resuscitate him but it
didn't work."The family were feeling angry that the stretch of beach had not been
blocked off after a man died there last month, his sister said.
She added: “Now it’s been blocked. Why didn’t they do it before? They could have saved five other lives.”
Ravi’s brother Ajirthan, 19, said police came to their door at 11pm on Wednesday as his brother’s Golf GTI was one of the only vehicles left in the car park.
“Because of the incident, they were assuming that the five passengers of the car were the five people they found,” he said. “We were distraught, we were so disappointed. We were so upset. It took a while for the police to verify the exact people. Then, about four hours later, they confirmed it’s my brother and his four friends.”
He said the emergency services had told the family that Ken and Inthushan had got into difficulty first, getting trapped in quicksand or mud beneath the water, then his brother, Kobi Nathan and Kurushanth had tried to rescue them.
“Ken and Indu got stuck underneath the water,” he said. “What they did is the three boys tried to save them. The three boys went under water to try to save them.”
He said attempts failed and Kurushanth was brought out first and declared dead straight away.
“My bro and Kobi had heartbeats and managed to survive for a few minutes but after first aid they couldn’t recover.”
Both died within 15 minutes after being pulled from the water, he said.
The bodies of Ken Nathan and Sriskantharasa were discovered later that evening, he said, adding that he thought they had got their legs caught in the “slippery mud” and sand on the sea bottom.
She added: “Now it’s been blocked. Why didn’t they do it before? They could have saved five other lives.”
Ravi’s brother Ajirthan, 19, said police came to their door at 11pm on Wednesday as his brother’s Golf GTI was one of the only vehicles left in the car park.
“Because of the incident, they were assuming that the five passengers of the car were the five people they found,” he said. “We were distraught, we were so disappointed. We were so upset. It took a while for the police to verify the exact people. Then, about four hours later, they confirmed it’s my brother and his four friends.”
He said the emergency services had told the family that Ken and Inthushan had got into difficulty first, getting trapped in quicksand or mud beneath the water, then his brother, Kobi Nathan and Kurushanth had tried to rescue them.
“Ken and Indu got stuck underneath the water,” he said. “What they did is the three boys tried to save them. The three boys went under water to try to save them.”
He said attempts failed and Kurushanth was brought out first and declared dead straight away.
“My bro and Kobi had heartbeats and managed to survive for a few minutes but after first aid they couldn’t recover.”
Both died within 15 minutes after being pulled from the water, he said.
The bodies of Ken Nathan and Sriskantharasa were discovered later that evening, he said, adding that he thought they had got their legs caught in the “slippery mud” and sand on the sea bottom.
A church near Camber Sands, in East Sussex, says that it is "grateful" for prayers after five people drowned off the coast.
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