Cornwall beach tragedy: Review of lifeguard cover at beach where three died surfing

 
Onlookers at the beach where surfers drowned
Benedict Moore-Bridger28 October 2014

Lifeguard cover at a coastal beauty spot in Cornwall is to be reviewed after three people died in a surfing tragedy.

Two men and a woman died after they and four children got into difficulty off Mawgan Porth beach in Newquay.

The adults were pulled unconscious from the sea and airlifted to hospital in a serious condition but were later pronounced dead.

The RNLI said its lifeguard patrols ran from March to September with “clear signs” informing beachgoers.

Dangerous beach: Mawgan Porth

An inquiry into what happened “will form part of the review into whether we need to extend cover there”, it said.

Four teenage boys, two aged 18, one 16 and one 15, managed to get out of the water but the adults, a 52 year-old man from the Leeds area, a 44-year-old man from St Austell and a 42 year-old from woman from St Austell, were dragged from the sea.

Emergency response: A Sea King helicopter at Mawgan Porth Beach (Picture: Twitter)

Superintendent Jim Pearce, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “This is a tragic incident and our condolences go out to the families of those involved. Along with the other emergency services we are now working to ascertain the full circumstances of this incident and our priority is to contact the families of those involved and offer all the support we can.”

Emergency services were called to the beach around 1.30pm yesterday after receiving several 999 calls saying seven people had been caught in a “rip tide”.

Newquay RNLI said the beach is “dangerous”.

Gareth Horner, lifeboat operations manager, said: “Conditions (there) are not really very good for surfing and bodyboarding.

“Mawgan Porth is a dangerous beach. We don’t know the exact circumstances or the ability of the people that were rescued.

“My understanding is that they were in two groups and that one of the casualties actually entered the sea to assist other people who were in trouble.”

Ian Guy, of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s National Maritime Operations Centre, said: “The surf there was quite high I’m told, in excess of 6ft.”

He said rip currents were “to be expected around Cornwall, especially at this time of year”.

Three surfers got into difficulty in the water and died off a beach in COrnwall

A spokeswoman for the RNLI said: “We position lifeguards at certain beaches during the summer months and at other times that we think will be busy during the year. A risk assessment is carried out and agreed with the local council and authorities, whoever is responsible for the beach.

"That risk assessment is decided by taking into account the number of users, the type of users, the topography of the area – how the waves fall there – and the proximity of other rescue services.

“Every season an assessment is carried out to see what lifeguards there should be on every beach. I am sure we will take into account visitor numbers at Mawgan Porth during half-term, and once we know what happened it will form part of the review into whether we need to extend lifeguard cover there.

"I don’t know if Mawgan Porth received high visitor numbers [on Sunday], but there would have been clear signs that this was not a lifeguarded beach.”

A rip current, sometimes wrongly referred to as a rip tide, is a strong, localised and narrow current of water.

It moves directly away from the shore and cuts through the lines of breaking waves.

People who do not have the necessary water skills can be placed at risk in a rip current if they panic or exhaust themselves swimming directly against the flow.

It is not known at this stage whether the group were experienced surfers or not.

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