Sussex Police say officers are working to identify three women whose bodies were recovered from the sea off Brighton after emergency services were called early on 2026-05-13.
The supplied Guardian report says the alarm was raised at about 5.45am after concerns about the women’s welfare. Rescue teams initially responded to reports of one person in the water, but three bodies were ultimately pulled from the sea near Madeira Drive. Police said the women were believed to be around 20 to 30 years old.
The sequence suggests a fast-moving and still unclear emergency. The women were first spotted near Brighton’s Palace Pier before drifting toward the marina, according to the report. Officers have not yet established who raised the alarm, whether the women were together and what led to the incident.
That lack of clarity is why the investigation is still focused on identification and reconstruction. Ch Supt Adam Hays said the priority was to identify all three women and contact their next of kin. He also said officers were reviewing CCTV from nearby properties and businesses to understand exactly what happened.
The coastguard response was substantial. A helicopter, rescue teams from Shoreham, Newhaven, Littlehampton and Birling Gap, and three RNLI lifeboats from Brighton and Shoreham were all involved. Hays said the coastguard was carrying out an extensive search and that, at that stage, police were not looking for anyone else.
The beach was closed for at least the rest of the afternoon, and officials remained along the seafront while the investigation continued. The sea was choppy and a helicopter was overhead, according to the report, which gives a sense of the scale of the emergency response.
Local leaders described the news as heartbreaking. MP Siân Berry called it unbearably sad, while MP Chris Ward and Brighton and Hove council leader Bella Sankey also expressed condolences and praised the emergency services. Those reactions underline the impact on the local community even before the women are formally identified.
The source does not say whether the deaths are being treated as suspicious, accidental or the result of a medical emergency. It does not mention any survivors or additional missing persons. The facts confirmed so far are limited to the recovery of three bodies, the age range police are working with and the ongoing effort to identify the women.
In a case like this, those limits are important. The public can be told what police know, but not what they do not yet know. At this stage, the confirmed picture is of a major seaside emergency in Brighton, a large rescue response and an active inquiry that still has to answer the basic questions of who the women were and how they ended up in the water.
Until then, the story remains one of identification, investigation and a community waiting for answers after a distressing morning on the Brighton coast.
