Quicksand blamed for tragedies

Five day-trippers drowned after two of them became ‘‘sucked in by quicksand’’ on a Sussex beach, the brother of one of the men said yesterday.

The five, all Sri Lankan Tamils from southeast London, died during a visit to the popular beach at Camber Sands near Rye in East Sussex on the hottest day of the year on Thursday.

Yesterday, locals and relatives of the dead men questioned why no permanent lifeguards were on duty at the beach. More than 5000 people signed a petition demanding better safety measures following the drowning of a Brazilian man there last month.

The victims were named by friends and relatives as Nitharsan Ravi, 22, Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 27, brothers Kenigan, 19, and Kobi Nathan, 22, and Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23. The five met through a shared love of sport.

Rescuers pulled three of the men from the sea and the bodies of the other two were recovered when the tide went out later that evening.

Ajirthan Ravi, younger brother of Nitharsan, insisted all the men could swim. He said the family was told by rescuers that two of the men had become trapped – and the other three got into difficulties when they tried to help to free them.

Ravi: ‘‘Ken and Inthushan got stuck under the water in the mud and sand. Their legs were sucked in like quicksand. The three friends went under the water to try and save them but all five got into difficulty.

‘‘Kurushanth was brought out dead first. My brother Nitharsan and Kobi were brought out afterwards. They both had a pulse for 15 minutes while paramedics tried to save them.

‘‘Ken and Indu were underneath the water and the emergency services didn’t know they were there. They got stuck under the water, their legs got caught.’’

He added: ‘‘There weren’t any lifeguards cruising around. Because they would have quickly noticed these boys drowning, and could have at least saved their lives.’’

Ravi’s sister Mayura said the family felt anger that the stretch of beach where they died had not been blocked off following the death death last month. She said: ‘‘Now it’s been blocked. Why didn’t they do it before? They could have saved five other lives.’’

There are very few accounts of quicksand at Camber Sands, although some reviews on the Tripadvisor website suggest it can be a problem.

One user wrote: ‘‘I took my grandson out in an inflatable boat up to our knees in water. On returning myself and 16 yr old son were up to our waists in quicksand. Scary situation. Don’t be fooled, there is quicksand.’’

Sussex police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths, the cause of which would be investigated at an inquest.

The tragedy brings to 12 the number of people who have died around Britain’s coast in the past week .