Overview
- Three separate open‑water incidents on Sunday 26 July left five people dead after recoveries at Fistral Beach in Cornwall, West Wittering in West Sussex and Loch Fyne in Argyll.
- At Fistral two people identified as a man in his 60s and a woman in her 30s from Doncaster were pronounced dead at the scene and their families have been informed with a coroner’s file to be prepared.
- Devon and Cornwall Police have appealed for the return of an orange/peach leather‑style handbag believed to have been taken into the water by the female Fistral victim.
- At West Wittering two men were pulled from the sea in the afternoon with one man later pronounced dead and the other taken to hospital, and Sussex Police have passed the case to the coroner’s officer.
- Police Scotland says two women in their 20s died while diving in Loch Fyne and the deaths are being treated as unexplained pending post‑mortems while multi‑agency rescue teams have stood down active searches and public‑safety calls have intensified.