5 friends drown mysteriously at UK beach

From Aditi Khanna London, Aug 25 (PTI) Five young Sri Lankan-origin men whowere on a day trip to a packed beach in southeast England havemysteriously drowned on a day that was Britain’s hottest dayof the year so far. Three of the victims were airlifted from sea yesterday andtwo other bodies were discovered washed ashore later the sameday at a popular beach resort of Camber Sands in East Sussex. While formal identifications remain pending, the men havetoday been named locally as Nitharsan Ravi, Inthushan Sri,Kuru Anna and brothers Kobi and Ken Nathan. All five are believed to be in their late teens and early20s and belong to the British Tamil community in southeastLondon. Friends began paying tribute to the victims today, withmessages such as "RIP" and "Miss you" posted on their Facebookpages. Ravi’s cousin said the family were still waiting "but thepolice have contacted us and we think it’s him". Sussex Police has since indicated that so-called "riptides", or fast flowing bodies of water that can drag evenexperienced swimmers into deep water, may be the cause of themysterious deaths. The force’s Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne said: "Peopleneed to understand that although the sun is shining and thesea is lovely to play in there are dangers there that you needto know about. "My first reaction to this was there are rip tides thathappen at Camber Sands and people do not understand about riptides." Thousands of sunbathers on the beach had watched in horroras the bodies of three men were lifted from the sea yesterday,which was Britain’s hottest day of the year. Chief Superintendent Di Roskilly of Sussex Police said:"We believe we now know who the men are and that they came tothe beach together for the day. "We believe they are all in their late teens and early 20sand come from the Greater London area. These men were notfully clothed when they were pulled from the sea but wearingclothes appropriate for being at the beach for the day. "This has been an incredibly tragic incident and we areoffering their next of kin support at this difficult time andour thoughts are with them." PTI AKABH