Three dead after family get into difficulty in sea near Shoreham Port

A spokesperson for Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex said both of its helicopters and critical care team had been sent to the scene as part of the response, and Shoreham RNLI said its lifeboat had beencalled out at 15:00 BST.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said it had been called to “reports of four people in need of medical attention”.

A section of the A259 – a main commuter road which runs through Brighton, Shoreham and Worthing – was closed.

BBC reporter Callum French said despite warm weather, sea conditions had been “pretty rough” because of high winds, describing the response as “the biggest turnout [of emergency services] I have seen“.

Witnesses described seeing large numbers of emergency vehicles and helicopters arriving at the seafront.

Resident Shirley Pumfrey said: “I have never seen them do that. The whole road was just full of emergency services.

“It was horrific and quite scary to see that many.”

Steve Chapman, who lives opposite the beach, said he couldn’t get into his road because it was cordoned off.

“There were all sorts of rumours flying around, it was very upsetting,” he said.