A teenage girl is dead and an 18-year-old man remains in a critical condition after being pulled from the water at Clacton beach.

Emergency services were called to the beach shortly after 1.30pm on Thursday afternoon.

The Coastguard, land ambulances and air ambulances were all called to the scene.

Acting Detective Superintendent Paul Wells of Essex Police said: "At this early stage, we believe that three teenagers got into difficulty at sea and were recovered from the water, close to Clacton Pier.

"A teenage boy and girl were taken to hospital in a critical condition. Of these, a fourteen-year-old girl has died in hospital and an eighteen-year old man is stable but remains in a critical condition. A fifteen-year-old girl was also taken to hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. The three casualties are related. Immediate family members have been informed and are at hospital.

"We are continuing to support the family at this unimaginably difficult time and are working closely with our partners.

"We would like to thank members of the public and our emergency service colleagues who responded really quickly and worked incredibly hard to help the teenagers. We would also like to thank members of the public who showed respect to the casualties and their families and who gave the emergency services space to work.

"We thank you for your support as we work to establish what happened."

A spokesman for Tendring District Council said the thoughts of everyone at the council were with those involved in the incident.

"Our Beach Patrol was part of the rescue operation today, and our thoughts are with the family and friends of those involved in the incident," he said.

"At this stage we do not know the full details of what happened, and it would not be appropriate to speculate. Our Beach Patrol staff are part of the emergency services debrief and we will continue to support our colleagues responding to such events along our coastline."