One person is missing, feared dead, and two others have been transferred to hospital after an incident off the Sussex coast at Camber Sands.
Emergency services were called at around 12.30pm to reports of a man missing while swimming. Two men were rescued from the water and given lifesaving treatment on the beach after suffering cardiac arrests. Both were airlifted to hospital.
A third man is still missing. Rescue teams from Dungeness and Rye, coastguard rescue helicopters from Lydd and Solent, Rye RNLI lifeboat, beach lifeguards and police were all involved in the search, which was eventually called off at about 9.30pm on Sunday.
Sussex police said that the three victims got into trouble as a result of the changing tide. Rumours that they had been caught in a smack of jellyfish were unfounded.
To clarify the men got into difficulty in the sea at #Camber & were not stung by jellyfish as is being reported in some places.
— Sussex Police (@sussex_police) July 24, 2016
A spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service confirmed that two people had been rescued from the water and airlifted to William Harvey hospital in Ashford, having been resuscitated.
He said both were in a life-threatening condition and that efforts to save their lives continued as they were on their way to the hospital. One was taken in the air ambulance, the other was transported by the coastguard’s helicopter, he said.
Inspector Mark Evans, of Sussex police, said: “We are working to establish who these two men are and trace their family and friends. We are continuing to support the coastguard and RNLI as they search for the 19-year-old man from London who who is still missing.
“It seems this [was] three people who got into trouble while swimming [as a result of] the changing tides and coastline.”
