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Three bodies found at Beachy Head | Three bodies found at Beachy Head |
(about 2 hours later) | |
The bodies of a man, woman and young boy have been recovered from about 400ft down Beachy Head in East Sussex. | |
The coastguard saw two bodies at about 2020 BST on Sunday, but the search did not begin until first light on Monday. | |
The identities of the three people have not yet been confirmed, but they are not thought to be local. The deaths are not being treated as suspicious. | |
The boy, who was thought to be about five years old, was found with a rucksack full of toys. | |
A Sussex Police spokesperson said the bodies were first spotted by a member of the coastguard who was on a routine patrol with a cliff-top chaplain. | A Sussex Police spokesperson said the bodies were first spotted by a member of the coastguard who was on a routine patrol with a cliff-top chaplain. |
'Soft toys' | |
Eastbourne Coastguard station officer Stuart McNab, who was one of the first to be winched down the cliff, said a rucksack found at the scene contained toys, including a tractor and soft toys. | |
The bodies were recovered from the beach by a coastguard team under the supervision of police officers by 1400 BST. | |
The area has been cordoned off and coastguards, police and volunteers from the chaplaincy team have remained at the scene. | |
Ch Insp Dick Coates said that a car, believed to be a Volkswagen or caravanette, had been recovered from the cliff-top car park and was being examined by officers. | |
The cliffs at Beachy Head reach up to about 600ft (180m) high and are a notorious suicide spot. | |
Mr McNab said an average of 20 people jump from the cliffs at Beachy Head every year. | |
He added there had been cases of multiple suicides before but they generally tended to involve elderly people. | |
Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team was set up in 2004 to try to prevent suicides. |