One of the people who died in a beach tragedy in Cornwall could have been trying to save young surfers in difficulty, the RNLI has said.
Two men and a woman died after being airlifted to hospital from Mawgan Porth beach, near Newquay, on Sunday.
The RNLI said early reports suggested one of the casualties had gone into the sea in a rescue attempt.
Four children, described as teenagers, managed to get out of the water and survived.
Steve Instance, RNLI lifeguard manager for the South West, said: "There was a group of people who were surfing. From the reports we have, one of the people who drowned may have gone in to try to help the others.
"We believe that two of the casualties are local, in their 40s, and the third is a gentleman in his 50s from outside the area.
"We believe that the group of children may have been the first to get into difficulty."
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Commander Tristam Newey, from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency: "Conditions yesterday weren't untypical"
Mr Instance said the relationship between the children and the people who died was not yet clear.
The people who died have not been formally identified but police believe they are a 52-year-old man from the Leeds area, a 44-year-old man from St Austell and a 42-year-old from woman, also from St Austell.
Brendon Prince, a lifeguard from Torbay in Devon, was visiting Mawgan Porth with a friend when the drama unfolded.
He said: "We ran to the first person and dragged them out of the water with one or two other people helping.
"The gentleman was a 52-year-old male. Obviously we sent for a defibrillator and paramedics as soon as we could.
"We then did CPR on the male for 20 minutes before the emergency services arrived."
Mr Prince said he spoke with the man's wife at the scene.
Rip currents
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Dr Rob Brander from the University of New South Wales explains how rip currents work
- Sometimes wrongly referred to as rip tides, rip currents are strong, localised and narrow currents of water
- They move directly away from the shore and cut through the lines of breaking waves
- The RNLI has said they can pose major problem for surfers, swimmers and bodyboarders, dragging them out of safe depths
- 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
- If you are caught in a rip current:
- Do not try to swim against it or you risk exhaustion
- If you can stand, wade and do not swim
- If you can, swim parallel to the shore until free of the rip and then head for shore
- Always raise your hand and shout for help
Source: Press Association and RNLI
He said he believed the man had been in the water with his son and may have been caught in a rip current.
The RNLI said its lifeguard patrols ran from May to September. An inquiry into what happened "will form part of the review into whether we need to extend cover there", it said.
The alarm was raised shortly after 13:00 GMT and a search was launched involving Newquay and Padstow Coastguard rescue teams, RNLI lifeboats and a Royal Navy helicopter from RNAS Culdrose.
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Signs warn of strong undercurrents at the beach as the BBC's Jon Kay reports
A spokeswoman for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution said regular risk assessments were carried out and lifeguards were positioned "at certain beaches during the summer months and at times that we think will be busy during the year".
"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."
She stressed that "clear signs" at the beach emphasised the lack of lifeguard cover and the dangers of strong currents.
'Tragic'Peter Abell, owner of the nearby Kingsurf surfing school, said sea conditions on Sunday were "not as bad as they can be" but added some currents were "slightly more dangerous than usual".
Nick Rees, operations manager from Surfing GB, the national governing body, said: "This is a rare occurrence, but one that we must learn from as a surfing community."
Supt Jim Pearce, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said on Sunday: "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."
Are you in the area? Did you see what happened? Have you been affected? Please email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk
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