Camber swimmer death: Petition to install lifeguards

Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, a 19-year-old man from Brazil, died after getting into difficulty in the water and a father and son from London were rescued.

The petition to Hastings and Rye MP Amber Rudd was set up yesterday and quickly gathered support.

“Camber sands gets unbelievably busy during summer time they have beach patrol but no lifeguards,” the petition says.

“After the serious incident that has recently happened this should be a good reason to have lifeguards like they do in Bournemouth, due to the amount of people that go to the beach and I feel it could save lives.”

Many have commented questioning why there are no lifeguards already, such as Whitney Bibby, from Camber.

“I have lived in camber for many years, every summer huge amounts of people come to visit this beach and so many have lost there life as well, there no one there to keep watch over everyone, we need lifeguards down the seven mile [sic] stretch of this beach to keep an eye out for people in danger.”

Kenny Butchers, from Rye, commented: “As a current qualified lifeguard I’m shocked to see the beach is not monitored by beach lifeguards!

“The lifeboat is not enough! You need 1 or 2 lifeguard per 2 zones to cover all areas!”

A Rother District Council spokesman said: “We are saddened by the tragic incident at Camber Sands on Sunday and our thoughts are with the family and friends of the man who died and the two men who remain in hospital.

“Hundreds of thousands of people enjoy Camber Sands every year and Sunday was particularly busy with around 25,000 visitors.

“As is usual for the summer season, beach patrols were on site to advise people of potential dangers, reunite lost children and deal with incidents on the beach.

“The district council’s coastal officer and officers from Sussex Police were also on the beach.

“Our officers are trained to deal with incidents on the shore, and acted quickly and professionally in what was an extremely distressing situation; performing CPR on two of the men and alerting HM Coastguard and the RNLI who carried out the search for the missing man.”

BREAKING: Teenage swimmer who died at Camber Sands identified

Police confirm body found after swimmer disappears in sea at Camber

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