Beach heroes died trying to save their friends from rip tide

THREE young men drowned while trying to save two friends who had been caught by a ‘vicious’ rip tide on a busy beach, it emerged last night.

The five friends had been playing football at the East Sussex resort of Camber Sands when they became trapped by the rapidly advancing tide.

Within seconds two of the men were dragged into the quick-flowing water of a rip tide before the other three tried in vain to rescue them.

Tragically all five of the friends, including two brothers, drowned in front of horrified holidaymakers who had flocked to the beach on Wednesday, the hottest day of the year south of the Border.

Emergency services tried for 15 minutes to revive three victims who were pulled from the sea soon after the tragedy.

The bodies of the other two men were found as the tide went out on Wednesday night.

Last night the family of one of the victims – who were all from London – said the men would not have died if there had been a lifeguard on duty.

Nitharsan Ravi, 22, a former aeronautical engineering student, is believed to be one of the men who tried to rescue his friends Kenigan Nathan, 19, and Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23.

The other two men who died after the attempted rescue were Kenigan’s brother Kobi, 22 and Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 27.

Mr Ravi’s younger brother Ajithan said he was told by doctors his sibling had died trying to save his friends.

He said: ‘Ken and Inthushan got stuck under the water in the mud and sand and their three friends went under the water to try and save them. But all five of them got into difficulty and sadly died.

‘My brother could swim just like the rest of them, but because of the strong tide it wore them out easily. A lifeguard could have saved their lives. Kurushanth was brought out dead first but my brother Nitharsan and Kobi were brought out afterwards.

‘Ken and Indu then came out at 8pm because they were under the water and the emergency services didn’t know they were there. They got stuck under the water, their legs were sucked in like quicksand. Their legs got caught.’

Paying tribute to his brother, who had studied at the University of Brighton, he added: ‘He was very talented and a fantas- tic sportsman. He excelled in everything he did. We are really upset.’

As tributes were paid to the victims, the RNLI said it believed the men had ‘failed to appreciate how quickly the tide would come in’. But locals questioned why the authorities did not employ lifeguards to patrol the popular beach.

Mr Ravi’s family also queried why safety measures were not brought in following the death of Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, at the beach last month.

Hannah Chatfield helped to drag one of the men out of the water. She said: ‘We were on the beach for about 45 minutes trying to resuscitate him but it didn’t work.’

The tragedy brings the death toll around Britain’s coastline to 12 over the past week.

A spokesman for Rother District Council said that, despite there being no lifeguards, there were summer patrols to advise people of potential dangers.

‘Lifeguard could have saved them’