Three family members have died after getting into difficulty in the water in Sussex.
A man, a woman and a teenage girl from the same family all died after entering the water to swim in Shoreham, Sussex.
A younger girl, also part of the family, has been taken to hospital in a critical condition, Chief Superintendent of Sussex Police James Collis said.
Emergency services were first called to Kingston Beach at 3pm after fishermen reported seeing four people struggling in the water.
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All four members of the family, who police confirmed were from abroad, were brought to shore. The coastguard is not searching for anyone else.
The disaster unfolded just as witnesses Gary and Victoria Flint had taken their children to the beach for the day.
Victoria, from Horsham, said: ‘We arrived at about three and soon after we heard the siren for the lifeboat.
‘We watched it launch then about 20 mins later, it came back. Ambulances started arriving – more and more of them – then the air ambulances started.’
The RNLI said lifeboat crews were launched at around 2.50pm this afternoon.
Two other lifeboats were also deployed from the Brighton lifeboat station soon after 3pm.
The coastguard, meanwhile, said ‘it responded to an incident reported at Shoreham at about 2.45pm’.
They added: ‘An HM Coastguard helicopter was sent as well as Littlehampton, Shoreham and Newhaven Coastguard Rescue Teams, and an RNLI lifeboat from Shoreham.’
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