Bodies of three women recovered from sea in Brighton, what has Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner said?

The bodies of three women have been recovered from the sea in Brighton. Chief Superintendent Adam Hays said: "At around 05:45 [BST] this morning emergency services were called to Brighton beach to concerns for the welfare of a person in the water.

"Very sadly a short while after the bodies of three women were recovered from the sea near Madeira Drive. This is a tragic incident. We are at the very early stages of our enquiries.

"Our priority right now is to identify all three women and contact their next of kin. I know this incident will be highly distressing for the community, and we are working hard with our partners to understand exactly what has happened.

"This includes gathering and reviewing CCTV from the surrounding area, including from properties and local businesses nearby. Our partners in the Coastguard have completed an extensive search of the water and at this stage we are not searching for anyone else.

"The beach will remain closed east of Volk’s Railway Black Rock car park for at least the rest of the afternoon. We are asking the public to please stay away from the area while we work at the scene.

"Anyone with any information that could help our investigation could contact us online via 101 quoting Operation Ledmore. We will provide further updates as soon as we can."

Katy Bourne OBE, who is the elected Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner took to X and said: “This is awful news & my thoughts are with their friends and loved ones. We must allow police to investigate and refrain from speculation at this time.”