A group of friends from Plumstead, Erith, Welling and Essex have been formally named as the victims of the beach tragedy in Camber Sands on the hottest day of the year.

Police have named the five childhood friends who drowned on Wednesday as Nitharsan Ravi, 22, of Admaston Road, Plumstead, and brothers Ken Saththiyanathan, 18, and Kobi Saththiyanathan, of Normandy Way, Erith.

Gurushanth Srithavarajah, 27 of Elsa Road, Welling, and Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, from Grays also died in the water.

Sussex Police believe the group of friends travelled down to the south coast together from London for a day out at the beach.

Relatives of Mr Ravi said they felt "very angry" at the lack of response from the authorities following the death of Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, last month.

Clutching her brother's T-shirt, Mr Ravi's sister Mayura sobbed as she remembered how he always looked out for her.

And the 17-year-old said the family felt anger that the stretch of beach where they died had not been blocked off following Mr Da Cruz's death last month.

She said: "Now it's been blocked. Why didn't they do it before? They could have saved five other lives."

Mr Ravi's younger brother, Ajirthan, 19, said his brother had died after trying to rescue two of his friends who had become trapped underneath the water.

This Is Local London:

Ken Nathan has been named as one of the victims. Picture: Facebook.

He said attempts failed and Kurushanth was brought out first and declared dead straight away.

"My bro and Kobi had heartbeats and managed to survive for a few minutes but after first aid they couldn't recover," he added.

Both died within 15 minutes after being pulled from the water, he said.

The bodies of Ken and Inthushan were discovered later that evening, he said, adding that he thought they had got their legs caught in the "slippery mud" and sand on the sea bottom.

Despite paramedics' efforts the first three people died after being pulled from the sea near Rye just after 2pm.

A beach-goer found the bodies of two further men washed up on the beach later that day.

Friend Charles Bosco, 27, from west London, said he had known Mr Ravi since the age of 10, and described him as a "lovely guy".

He said: "We are family friends. My mum told me this morning. Obviously yesterday we heard five guys had drowned but we didn't know it was him and four of his friends. It was a real shock.

"We went to Tamil school together and we always bumped into each other. My mum has gone to visit his family now. They have gone to Woolwich to give support."

Mr Bosco described Mr Ravi as a "fun, bubbly guy". And he added: "No one could say a bad word about him. I saw him two months back in church when we went on a pilgrimage.

"We go on a pilgrimage to Walsingham for a Tamil festival every year. He is a lovely guy who cares for his family. He is a social guy. Every time I saw him he would immediately come and talk to me.

"Everyone is in shock. People are calling me saying how could it have happened."

This Is Local London:

Nitharsan Ravi from Plumstead. Picture: PA/PA Wire.

According to Mr Ravi's social media, the University of Brighton student went to Bexleyheath Academy, as did Ken Nathan.

Kobi Nathan is believed to have been studying accounting and finance at the University of Brighton.

One beach-goer said police told her to stay out of the sea due to a rip tide while another, who declined to be named, said: "We noticed when we came here that there were no lifeguards. We had kids here and we were worried about them."

He said he could not understand how the men had run into difficulties as the sea appeared calm.

"The sea is very shallow for quite a long way," he said. "It seems so strange how they got into trouble. There was no waves and no wind."

This Is Local London:

One of the victims Nitharsan Ravi from Plumstead. Picture: PA Wire.

Hannah Chatfield helped to drag one of the men out of the water after the alarm was raised while she was on the beach for the day with her family.

She said: "The first man was pulled out of the sea unconscious ... maybe 20 minutes later a woman came over shouting and saying there's more in there.

"Me and my boyfriend went to get him because the lifeguards were with the first guy.

"We were on the beach for about 45 minutes trying to resuscitate him but it didn't work."

The 16-year-old said she had been in the sea herself that day and the water was calm at the time.

"No-one noticed anything going wrong, that's why it was such a shock," she added.

Chief Superintendent of Sussex Police Di Roskilly said: "We believe we now know who the men are and that they came to the beach together for the day. We believe they are all in their late teens and early 20s and come from the Greater London area.

"These men were not fully clothed when they were pulled from the sea but wearing clothes appropriate for being at the beach for the day.

"This has been an incredibly tragic incident and we are offering their next of kin support at this difficult time and our thoughts are with them."

More to follow.

Did you know any of the victims? To pay tribute get in touch by email at jessica.bell@london.newsquest.co.uk or call 01689 885721.