This is an updated version of our report first published 6.30am Friday June 30
Last Monday saw the start of the inquest – which was to last five days – into the deaths of five young men who were drowned at Camber Sands last August.
The lawyer for the families, Patrick Roche started by wanting to know what arrangements had been put in place to prevent similar tragedies in the future – the bereaved families, he said, were keen that others should not have to suffer as they and those who died had done.
Seeing, perhaps, where this was heading, the coroner, Alan Craze said that he was not going to allow the inquest to be used is if it was a civil negligence claim, that it should be “non-accusatory” and should be forward-looking with a view to prevent any future deaths. The young men, according to the father of two of them, had “good swimming ability” and were used to the sea and beaches.
In the previous month, July, two other men had also lost their lives on the beach and following this, Rother District Council had asked the RNLI (who had produced a report in 2013 recommending life guards on the beach) to provide lifeguards but at that time the answer had been that the RNLI was fully committed elsewhere and did not have the immediate resources or manpower available. At the end of August, however, as the holiday season started to wind down, they were able to provide cover. This year Rother had arranged with the RNLI to provide a full beach lifesaving service for the whole of the summer.
At one point it had been thought that rip tides (strong narrow ribbons of current flowing out to sea from the beach) might have been the cause but this was now discounted on the basis that there were few, if any, rip tides in this area and any that there might have been would have been weak enough not to have caused a problem. A more likely possibility put forward was that the undulating sand bars on the beach had resulted in large areas filling with water between the victims and the beach – particularly on this occasion as the water came in swiftly on a spring tide. This could possibly induce panic in someone think that there way back to safety had been cut off.
Answering questions on Thursday, the Chief Executive of Rother, Tony Leonard said that beach patrols (not lifesavers) had been provided up to the previous year and part of the reason a lifeguard service had not been provided was due to the fact that the Council also had other commitments at the beach, including car parks, beach cleaning and maintenance and funds were finite. It was also felt that with a generally good past record, the beach was inherently safe. He confirmed that there would be a review at the end of this summer to decide on the way forward for 2018.
The final day of the inquest saw evidence from oceanographer Dr Simon Boxall. He said that around 200 lives were lost in Britain each year in similar circumstances and in this case, the men may still have died even if lifeguards had been available. It was possible that the 10 degree difference between air and sea temperatures may have caused a degree of shock and the pressure of the rapidly-incoming tide would also have contributed.
In recording his verdict of death by misadventure, coroner Alan Craze confirmed the view that it was not known whether the presence of lifeguards would have prevented the deaths “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.” There was no legal requirement for Rother District Council to follow through with recommendations contained in the earlier risk assessments by the RNLI.
The coroner said he would be writing a prevention of future deaths letter highlighting his concerns including those over the control of risk assessments.
Photo: Rye News Library
Image Credits: BBC .