Girl fighting for her life as 3 family members die in UK sea incident
A girl is fighting for her life in hospital as three members of the same family died in an incident at Shoreham beach. This comes as an eyewitness has claimed a child became caught in a fishing net before the family got into difficulty in the water off Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex.
Landscaper Joe Chrisp, 24, claimed: "One of the local fishermen said it was two adults, two kids. One of the kids apparently got caught in a fishing net." Mr Chrisp said he had been on his way back from work when he encountered the emergency response, adding: "There were loads of police, and I got turned around. It’s so tragic." Sources have since said there is currently no evidence to suggest a fishing net was involved. A man, a woman and a teenage girl were tragically confirmed dead after being brought to shore following the incident on Tuesday afternoon, August 18. A younger girl from the same family was taken to hospital, where police said she remained in a critical condition.
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Emergency services were called at around 2.40pm following reports of four people in difficulty in the water close to Shoreham Fort.
Sussex Police supported HM Coastguard and the RNLI as all four members of the family were brought back to shore.
Chief Superintendent James Collis said police currently believe all four family members had entered the water from the land to swim before getting into difficulty.
He said enquiries remained ongoing to establish the full circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
The RNLI launched rescue boats from Shoreham Harbour at 2.51pm, with two further lifeboats sent from nearby Brighton shortly after 3pm.
A Coastguard helicopter and rescue teams were also involved in the major emergency response.
Speaking to the Mirror, Shelley Ayres, who lives opposite the beach, said: "We have never known this. I'm just hoping it's nothing tragic.
"The sea has been very calm for months and months, but today it has got a lot rougher."
Another resident, Pete Book, described seeing emergency services converge on the area. He said: "As I neared home, a yellow air ambulance also landed.
"There were a lot of ambulances, coastguard and police vehicles converging on the area, and the coast road was closed."
Police have appealed for anyone who witnessed the incident or has relevant video footage to come forward as officers work to establish the full circumstances of what happened.