A woman aged in her 80s has died following an incident at a beach in north Essex.

Emergency services responded to concerns for the wellbeing of a woman at Walton-on-the-Naze, between Clacton and Harwich, at about 6.20pm on Wednesday.

People were urged to stay away from the beachfront for several hours after the incident.

Police confirmed on Thursday morning a woman had been pulled from the water.

Despite receiving medical attention from paramedics, she died at the scene.

The woman's death is not being treated as suspicious by Essex Police.

Police thanked members of the public and partner agencies for their efforts in responding to the incident.

Terry Allen, mayor at Frinton and Walton Town Council, said he was aware of the emergency services' presence by the resort's beachfront on Wednesday evening.

He expressed his condolences to the woman's family after her death was confirmed by police.

Mr Allen said: "The police cut off the beach and told everyone who was there to move on. We thought someone had been airlifted away.

"It was quite disturbing when we heard all the emergency services had been called to the beach.

"We were aware of this activity, and it is tragic to hear the person involved has now sadly passed away."

A number of coastguard rescue teams, RNLI lifeboats and the coastguard helicopter were also dispatched to Walton-on-the-Naze to reports of someone in the water on Tuesday afternoon.

However, nobody was found following a search.

The woman's death comes after 21-year-old Sujal Sahu drowned while swimming in the sea at Clacton Pier on Tuesday, July 19, the hottest day of the year.

The body of Mr Sahu, who was a computer science student at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, was found in Jaywick four days later.

Earlier this week, Essex Coroner’s Court heard a postmortem examination at Colchester Hospital had concluded that Mr Sahu, who grew up in Rajasthan in India, had drowned, pending a toxicology report.

An inquest into his death will resume next year.