Five best friends including two brothers drowned off Camber Sands in East Sussex, UK after being dragged away by a vicious rip tide on the hottest day of the year, Daily Mail said.
Kenigan Nathan, 19, and Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, became trapped in quicksand under the water and the other three swam over to try and rescue them, the brother of one of the victims revealed.
Sriskantharasa, Kenigan - known as Ken - and his brother Kobi Nathan, 22, Nitharsan Ravi, 22, and Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 26, were on a day trip from London when they were cut off from the incoming tide while playing football on an offshore sand bar.
A strong rip tide stopped them swimming back to land.
The brother of one victim blasted the decision to have no permanent lifeguards on a seven-mile beach containing 25,000 people.
Ajirthan Ravi said his brother Nitharsan had known the other four since they were five years old.
He said: 'My brother could swim just like the rest of them could but because of the strong tide it wore them off easily. They drowned because of a lack of stamina from the tidal effect. A lifeguard could have saved their lives'.
Mr Ravi said: 'Ken and Inthushan got stuck under the water in the mud and sand and his three friends went under the water to try and save them.
'But all five of them got into difficulty and sadly died. Kurushanth was brought out dead first but 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 then came out at 8pm because they were underneath 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.'
Three victims were pulled from the sea off the East Sussex beach yesterday afternoon and emergency services tried and failed to revive them in front of thousands of horrified holidaymakers.
Two more bodies - also wearing shorts and T-shirts - were found washed up by a walker as the tide went out later in the evening.
Last month a Brazilian national, Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, died in the water off Camber Sands and two others had to be rescued after being caught by a tide and strong winds.
Mr Ravi's sister Mayura said: 'Now it's been blocked. Why didn't they do it before? They could have saved five other lives.'
Nitharsan Ravi, 22, from Plumstead in south-east London, worked in a Tesco supermarket and studied at the University of Brighton studying aeronautical engineering.
Keen footballer and cricketer Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 26, who was known as 'Kuru' to his friends, worked in a Tesco Express for the past six years and studied at Newham University Centre. He would have been 27 two days later.
Kenigan Nathan, from Slade Green, was the youngest victim and was a former Bexleyheath Academy student.
His brother Kobi, also from Slade Green died alongside close friend Inthushan Sriskantharasa, from Plumstead, the first named victim of yesterday's tragedy.
Nitharson's brother Ajirthan said: 'My brother was very sporty. He was educationally motivated. He always spoke of being an engineer.
'He was at Brighton University studying aeronautical engineering. He was about to start his second year but obviously now this has happened.
Ajirthan, who also has a sister, 17, said his parents Ravi and Ranjini were to distraught to speak today.
He said: 'They have lost their eldest son. They are so upset. We still feel he is around us, beside us.'
The family members were told about the tragedy when police knocked on their door last night at 11pm. The family had an agonising 5 hour wait until his death was confirmed.
He said: 'Police came over last night and wanted to know whose car it was (at the beach). We were so disheartened. We couldn't think clearly. At 4am he was declared dead.'
He added: 'We are distraught. Our thoughts go to all the parents. My brother knew Kurushanth through sport. They played football and cricket together.
'He had been friends with Kobi since secondary school. They were very close. They also went to university together.
'Kobi's and Ken's parents have lost both their children. I'm devastated for everyone. I knew all the men. They were good innocent people who have lost their lives.
'They had just gone down for a day at the beach, like normal people. And unfortunately this happened.'
Despite 25,000 people being on the beach yesterday, it has no permanent lifeguards.
He said: 'A five minutes delay caused this death toll I recommend there to be a reliable lifeguard. A lifeguard could have saved their lives'.
His uncle Kugan Gianarathinam said: 'There needs to be more lifeguards at Camber Sands. They say it's one of the safest beaches in Britain but it's a lie, Nitharsan and his friends are dead. They also need to put up more signs warning of the dangers. It is not safe for anybody.'
Friend Thujee Jay tweeted today: 'Why did God take 5 lives at once. RIP Nitharsan, Kuru, Kobi, Kenny and Indhusan. Can't believe you are all gone.'
Jackson Bosco, a banker from London and a close friend of Nitharsan Ravi, wrote: 'RIP Nitharsan Ravi. Can't believe to hear the news that you were one of the boys at Camber Sands. You were truly a good person with a good heart. You are going to be missed on this earth.'
Friend Charles Bosco, 27, from west London, said he had known Mr Ravi since the age of 10, and described him as a 'lovely guy'.
He said: 'We are family friends. My mum told me this morning. Obviously yesterday we heard five guys had drowned but we didn't know it was him and four of his friends. It was a real shock.
'We went to Tamil school together and we always bumped into each other. My mum has gone to visit his family now. They have gone to Woolwich to give support.'
Mr Bosco described Mr Ravi as a 'fun, bubbly guy'. And he added: 'No one could say a bad word about him. I saw him two months back in church when we went on a pilgrimage.
'We go on a pilgrimage to Walsingham for a Tamil festival every year. He is a lovely guy who cares for his family. He is a social guy. Every time I saw him he would immediately come and talk to me.
'Everyone is in shock. People are calling me saying how it could have happened.'
Last month 19-year-old Brazilian Gustavo Silva Da Cruz died while swimming off Camber Sands. In July a father and son suffered serious injuries after they were attacked by a swarm of jellyfish.
Kevin Crooks, 50, from Southampton, looked on in horror as paramedics battled to revive someone pulled from the water yesterday.
He said: 'The most horrible thing was when the rescue truck drove along the beach. They were performing CPR while it was going along.
'There are questions that need to be answered about this. There are seven miles of beach and there were 25,000 people here yesterday.
'To have one tragedy is one thing. But to have another and five people die - that's so big. They have to do something.'
Pat Paine, 63, from Hornchurch, Essex, was with Mr. Crooks and saw beach patrol officers spring into action.
She said: 'The beach patrol station was behind us. They got a call on the radio and ran flat out down to the sea. Then they legged it up the beach.
'It's a long way to the other bed of the beach. If they had life guards stationed at points along the beach, they might have been able to save somebody.'
The tourists at the popular holiday destination were surprised to discover beach patrol are not trained lifesavers and cannot go into the water.
More than 2,000 people have signed a petition for lifeguards since a 19-year-old got into difficulties and died last month.
She added: 'They should employ lifesavers during the summer season from May to September the there wouldn't be these tragedies.'
Fellow holidaymaker Gemma McCarthy, 35, from Rainham, Essex, echoed their calls and said: 'The kids have been asking lots of questions and they didn't want to go in the water today'.
Sam Maynard, 40, who runs a beach equipment rentals company, said the continuing safety concerns and a lack of lifeguards could 'crucify' businesses.
He said: 'We just want to know what happened. It could crucify us, especially as it's a month to the day since that boy drowned last month. It's a safe beach. No one understands how this could have happened.'
Rob Manning, who works at Bavarian Beach Grill, saw one of the men pulled from the water, and said: 'Everyone feels we just need lifeguards. If you were a mum with kids and you saw the news you would think I'm not taking my kids there'
He added: 'I saw them take one of them back up on the pickup and they were giving him CPR. How could five men get in trouble? It was a lovely day there wasn't a ripple in the sea.
'If it was a red flag day and the sea was rough you could see how they got into trouble, but the sea was perfect. It's really strange.'
Holidaymaker Gail McLean, 38, from London, was among the 25,000 at Camber Sands yesterday, said: 'No one understood how someone could have got in trouble - the water was calm as you like. It's so unusual to have five men drown'.
Another witness said: 'We noticed when we came here that there were no lifeguards. We had kids here and we were worried about them.'
'The sea is very shallow for quite a long way. It seems so strange how they got into trouble. There was no waves and no wind'.
MailOnline asked Sussex Police why they think the men got into trouble and said it formed part of their investigation but the cause of death is 'a matter for the coroner'.
Witnesses said the first three dead men - who are believed to originally be from Sri Lanka - did not appear to have any family or friends with them and may have travelled together from London.
Their clothes led to speculation that the victims could be illegal immigrants - but a police source said that the investigation is at an early stage and 'there is currently nothing to suggest the men were migrants'.
Chief Superintendent Di Roskilly said the men were all 'wearing clothes appropriate for being at the beach' when they died and 'came together for the day'.
She said: 'We believe they are all in their late teens and early 20s and come from the Greater London area. We have no further reports of anyone else missing from Camber and there are no on-going searches related to this incident.
'This has been an incredibly tragic incident and we are offering their next of kin support at this difficult time and our thoughts are with them.'
Two witnesses have relived the horrifying moment they stumbled across two bodies washed up on the beach at Camber Sands last night.
Holiday makers Victoria Slater-Hills, 25, from east London, and Caroline Chase, 25, from north London were enjoying a night walk with their young families when they spotted what appeared to be a 'rock' in a shallow pool of water shortly before 8pm.
Mother-of-two Victoria said they tried to shine a light in it, but walked past when they spotted police further up the beach. As she approached the police, she saw the body a young man lying on the sand.
They retraced their steps only to watch in horror as a man returned to the 'rock' they had passed, and pulled another body out of the water.
Victoria said: 'We were walking towards the police and passed something sticking out of the water. It was in a puddle of water.
'When we reached the police and saw the body on the sand, they told us to clear the area. As we walked back a man raced past us and pulled the rock up. It was another body. It was completely stiff. It must have been face down in the water.'
Caroline, who is a mum of four, said: 'It makes me go cold thinking about it now. It was horrible. I didn't expect to see that.
'I have never seen a body before.'
Victoria added: 'We have come here on holiday and seeing that and hearing that the kids are terrified. They were really scared. My little sister is only 17 and she couldn't sleep last night. She's traumatised.'
They were all back at the beach today, determined to show their kids the sea is still a fun place.
They echoed calls for trained lifeguards at the holiday spot, which they visit every year.
A cousin of one of the men believed to have been killed off the coast of East Sussex has said that the family members were awaiting formal identification of the body.
The deaths led to renewed calls for lifeguards to be permanently stationed on the popular tourist beach. An online petition calling for the change has received more than 2,000 signatures.
Local councillor Paul Osborne said today swimmers need to be careful at Camber.
He said: 'We obviously want people to come to the beach, enjoy it and then drive home after. The sea is great, but it doesn't give up if you get into difficulty. It has to be respected.
'Camber is safe; it's not massively deep. But you do find people go in even if they can't swim and then get into difficulty. It's not a pool with steps, which doesn't have a current. The beach is a different entity all together.
'Personally I wouldn't go into the sea, and I can swim. I wouldn't risk it. If you can't swim, don't go in the sea.'
The five deaths bring the toll to 12 in less than a week as people head for the coast at the tail end of the school holidays.
Two-year-old Mckayla Bruynius died at Bristol Children's Hospital on Tuesday night after she was caught by a large wave at Fistral beach in Newquay, Cornwall, on Friday.
Her father, Rudy Bruynius, was also killed after getting into trouble as 13ft waves lashed the coast amid strong winds and rain.
A mother and son died on Saturday after a rescue operation at Aberdeen beach, while a windsurfer in his 60s died in a Colchester hospital after being rescued off the coast of West Mersea, Essex.
On Sunday a woman in her 30s died after getting into difficulties while swimming off Jersey, before a man died despite the efforts of medics after getting stuck in a rip current at Sandbanks beach in Poole, Dorset.
The alarm was raised at around 2.10pm when the first male swimmer was spotted struggling in the water.
As the emergency services, search and rescue helicopters and an air ambulance were scrambled to the scene, another man was seen in trouble ten minutes later.
Both men were pulled from the sea in a life-threatening condition. A third swimmer was then recovered from the same stretch of water at 2.35pm. Families were left in tears as they watched medics trying in vain to save the lives of the men using CPR.
Hannah Chatfield, from Coulsdon in Surrey, was at the beach with her mother, boyfriend and nephews when the drama unfolded.
She told MailOnline: 'We were on the beach when someone was pulled out, and about half an hour later a woman came up shouting saying there were more people in water.
'The lifeguards were busy with the person they had already dragged out so me and about seven other people, including a lifeguard, all ran down to the water.
'The man was quite far out but he wasn't really far out - we swam over to him and dragged him up on to the sand. I think he was in his 30s.
'Then the medics started doing CPR on him and the others and that went on for quite a while but I think they just gave up in the end.'
Kelly Thisleton, 40, from Sidcup, told The Sun: 'We were sitting on the beach when we saw someone pulling a young black guy out of the water. All the beach guards rushed down. It was three black gentlemen in their late 20s in the end.'
Police patrolled the beach using loudhailers ordering sunbathers not to enter the water.
Natalja Taylor, 30, who was on a day-trip with her husband, said: 'We saw three people being pulled out of the water. I think the people who rescued them were regular people, not emergency personnel. We don't know what condition they were in.
'Police drove on to the beach with a loudspeaker, telling people not to go into the water. They taped off a huge chunk of the beach. I'm not sure how it happened. It wasn't particularly windy, it was just a hot, sunny beach day. There were a lot of people on the beach, particularly for a weekday.'
A spokesman for Rother District Council said that, despite there being no lifeguards, there are summer patrols to advise people of potential dangers, reunite lost children with their families and deal with incidents on the beach.
'While it's very upsetting to see two similar, tragic incidents this summer, over the years these kind of incidents are extremely rare and on a fine day around 25,000 people use the beach safely,' he said.
'Although it's too early to draw any conclusions from this latest incident, in recent years we have seen a change in the make-up of visitors to Camber, including more people from outside the area who are not familiar with the sea and the dangers it can pose.'
Police are said to have an open mind about what happened and in recent days there had been reports of strong rip tides in the area and it is possible yesterday's victims could have been swept out to sea and been unable to reach shore.
The tragedies follow a series of drownings around the coast of Britain during the recent hot spell. A two-year-old girl who was swept off rocks into the sea with her father in Newquay, Cornwall and last week has died.
Britain basked in glorious sunshine yesterday as temperatures hit 33.9C (93F) in Gravesend, Kent, beating the previous hottest day this year, July 19 when 33.5C (92.3F) was recorded at Brize Norton in Oxfordshire.
The Met Office even issued a heat warning, while health officials urged people to take care of vulnerable friends and family members.
But forecasters warned that the country faces a bank holiday washout – with heavy rainfall and lower temperatures.
Luke Miall, Met Office forecaster, said: 'Saturday looks to be quite unsettled with the risk of thundery showers, especially for southern areas.
'Sunday is definitely going to be fresher with a risk of thundery showers.'
