Drowning of seven at south-coast beach was misadventure – coroner

THE DROWNING deaths of seven men, including five young friends, at a popular south-coast beach last summer were through misadventure, a coroner concluded.

Tragedy struck as Mohit Dupar, 36, tried to reach Brazilian Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, as he got into difficulty at Camber Sands, near Rye, East Sussex, last July 24 – but both died.

A month later, five young friends, who all lived in the London area, were of Sri Lankan origin and aged 18 to 27, drowned at the same beach after being seen playing volleyball in the sea last August 24.

Nine deaths occurred at Camber in the four years from 2012 – including the seven last summer. But lifeguards were not deployed until after the five deaths last August, despite recommendations from the RNLI to employ them three years earlier.

Recording his conclusions following a five-day inquest in Hastings, East Sussex, senior coroner Alan Craze said it was “not known” whether deploying lifeguards would have prevented the deaths.

Mr Craze said: “The RNLI had recommended, amongst other measures, deploying lifeguards at the beach in 2013 but this had not happened. Of course, it is not known whether such a step would have prevented the deaths, but it has now been implemented.”

The five friends who died last August 24 were Kenugen Saththiyanathan, 18, known as Ken, and his brother Kobikanthan Saththiyanathan, 22, known as Kobi, both of Erith, south-east London, and their friends Nitharsan Ravi, 22, of Plumstead, south-east London, Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, of Grays, Essex, and Gurushanth Srithavarajah, 27, of Welling, south-east London.

The inquest heard the five men were all fit, healthy and competent swimmers when they died on a sunny day but beneath the surface at Camber Sands lurked “hidden dangers”.

Although rip currents were not believed responsible, Camber has sandbars that can catch people out when the tide comes in rapidly, sometimes causing people to wade through water to reach shore, the inquest heard. Oceanographer Dr Simon Boxall believed the five men got into trouble after heading out to a sandbar to play volleyball a distance out at sea, and then got caught out.