Four in hospital after sea rescue

Three people and a woman they were trying to rescue from the sea in East Sussex have been taken to hospital.

A woman got into difficulties in the water at Camber Sands, near Rye, and was pulled out unconscious by three people she was with on Saturday.

The woman was treated on the beach and then airlifted by air ambulance to hospital in Brighton, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

The three other people were not thought to be seriously injured.

The condition of the airlifted woman is not known.

An MCA spokeswoman said: "At 4.41pm, Dover Coastguard was called by a member of the public to say that a lady appeared to be in difficulty.

"She had been pulled unconscious from the water which was thigh-deep at Camber Sands. There was a doctor on the beach.

"She was treated on the beach and taken by Kent Air Ambulance at 5.37pm to hospital in Brighton. Three other people who were with her were taken to hospital by road ambulance."

The sea state was described as good and there were no warning flags in place at the time of incident, the spokeswoman added.