Camber Sands Tragedy

[Walt Zingmatilder]

One lost at Camber beach a month ago.
Five more today with search for anther person missing.
Having some local knowledge IMHO locality was very much in fading English resort mode and mentality when really Camber was/is becoming a fairly large ''must get to'' destination. Local authorities obviously caught out by numbers and safety found wanting. Not really axe grinding here but a change of practice and cranking up to handle potentially vulnerable tourists seems obvious and necessary.

[L.A.]

One lost at Camber beach a month ago.
Five more today with search for anther person missing.
Having some local knowledge IMHO locality was very much in fading English resort mode and mentality when really Camber was/is becoming a fairly large ''must get to'' destination. Local authorities obviously caught out by numbers and safety found wanting. Not really axe grinding here but a change of practice and cranking up to handle potentially vulnerable tourists seems obvious and necessary.

In addition to being a great tragedy it's a very odd case and I suspect that we haven't heard all the facts yet. Of course we need emergency services but I'm a great believer in personal responsibility and we all need to take responsibility for our own safety and that of our families and not behave recklessly expecting to be rescued.

[floo]

The one time we went to Camber Sands is etched in my memory for life. Our middle girl (3) did a disappearing act whilst I turned my back for a minute or two whilst changing the baby's nappy. We had to get the police, and they found her happily playing in a rock pool a couple of hours later!

[jeremyp]

I don't know the place, is Camber Sands particularly treacherous? The photos make it look like any other beach.

[Udayana]

I don't know the place, is Camber Sands particularly treacherous? The photos make it look like any other beach.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37183642

"The Police and Crime Commissioner for Sussex, Katy Bourne, explains on the Today programme the dangers of riptides at Camber Sands."

[L.A.]

I don't know the place, is Camber Sands particularly treacherous? The photos make it look like any other beach.

It's a popular beach with good sand, in most ways ideal for kids, but there are strong currents in some areas at certain times, so potentially dangerous for swimming.

Odd there wasn't a lifeguard at this time of year.

[Walt Zingmatilder]

It's a popular beach with good sand, in most ways ideal for kids, but there are strong currents in some areas at certain times, so potentially dangerous for swimming.

Odd there wasn't a lifeguard at this time of year.

I go to Rye harbour quite regularly and Camber is just across the river most days it is just small knots of people but recently the beaches and lodgings have been filling up and the crowds have returned....and as a locality we seem to have just watched this expansion. We have been taken by surprise at the effect and this seems to have resulted in a bit of dangerous chaos resulting in multiple deaths.

I suppose hundreds of thousands will now go to making this the resort it should have been recognised as and it goes down as another ''nobody does something until people get hurt.

[Nearly Sane]

I go to Rye harbour quite regularly and Camber is just across the river most days it is just small knots of people but recently the beaches and lodgings have been filling up and the crowds have returned....and as a locality we seem to have just watched this expansion. We have been taken by surprise at the effect and this seems to have resulted in a bit of dangerous chaos resulting in multiple deaths.

I suppose hundreds of thousands will now go to making this the resort it should have been recognised as and it goes down as another ''nobody does something until people get hurt.

Surely this is just cyclical?

[floo]

I go to Rye harbour quite regularly and Camber is just across the river most days it is just small knots of people but recently the beaches and lodgings have been filling up and the crowds have returned....and as a locality we seem to have just watched this expansion. We have been taken by surprise at the effect and this seems to have resulted in a bit of dangerous chaos resulting in multiple deaths.

I suppose hundreds of thousands will now go to making this the resort it should have been recognised as and it goes down as another ''nobody does something until people get hurt.

I would have thought people might stay away due to the dangerous rip tides.

[Udayana]

In general that beach seems safer than many others. Still need confirmation that yesterday's deaths were actually due to a riptide.

[Aruntraveller]

Latest reports are suggesting that they were trapped in sandbars.

This from the BBC:

Five men who died at Camber Sands got into trouble after failing to realise how quickly the tide would come in, the RNLI has said.

The men were on a day trip to London to the Sussex resort on Wednesday.

The RNLI said it did not believe that rip currents were responsible for the men's death. Police said the group were in their late teens and early 20s.

It thinks the men fell into deep channels of water called sandbars.

[Udayana]

Very odd that all 5 would get trapped. Could be lack of basic swimming ability?

[wigginhall]

People often start helping each other and get in trouble.   This happens all the time with dogs, the dog gets back to shore, and the owner drowns going in after it.   But five is incredible, I hope they weren't drunk. 

[Walt Zingmatilder]

I would have thought people might stay away due to the dangerous rip tides.

People are starting to flock to Camber and might as you say be put off with only Car park takings and Ice cream takings and 6 deaths and unhappy memories this summer to show for it.

If only the dynamics of large groups had been understood and not just witnessed.

Being relatively local I think locally the idea of actually being a resort is something of the past. The locality never fully grasped large numbers and maybe even resented them a little. It obviously hasn't done enough for them.

[floo]

People are starting to flock to Camber and might as you say be put off with only Car park takings and Ice cream takings and 6 deaths and unhappy memories this summer to show for it.

If only the dynamics of large groups had been understood and not just witnessed.

Being relatively local I think locally the idea of actually being a resort is something of the past. The locality never fully grasped large numbers and maybe even resented them a little. It obviously hasn't done enough for them.

When we visited Camber Sands in the 70s, there was a huge expanse of beach with only our family present.

[Brownie]

I don't know the place, is Camber Sands particularly treacherous? The photos make it look like any other beach.

Large sand dunes jeremy, easy to hide behind.  I've only been once and that was when I was a child on a school day out at the end of our time at the school (aged about 11 I think).  It was lovely. 

The Camber Sands Tragedy is indeed a terrible thing to happen, there have been quite a few, similar, occurrences in recent days.