Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Conditions on the beach were fairly typical, as the BBC's Jon Kay reports 
 
 Two men and a woman have died after getting into difficulty in the sea off a beach in Cornwall. 
 
 They were among seven surfers who had to be helped from the water at Mawgan Porth, near Newquay. 
 
 Four children, who were among the seven, were saved but the adults died after being airlifted to hospital. 
 
 The dead included a man in his 50s from outside the Devon and Cornwall area and a man and woman in their 40s from Cornwall, police said. 
 
 Devon and Cornwall Police said the family of the man in his 50s had been informed of his death. 
 
 Image copyright Cornish Guardian/SWNS Image caption The three adults were taken from the sea unconscious and received medical treatment on the beach 
 
 Image copyright Cornish Guardian/SWNS Image caption Air ambulances from Devon and Cornwall helped ferry the casualties to hospital in Truro 
 
 Coastguards received "multiple 999 calls" at about 13:15 GMT when the seven got into trouble in what is believed to have been a rip current. 
 
 The South Western Ambulance Service said the initial call reported "seven people had been caught in a rip tide". 
 
 After the alarm was raised, a search was launched involving Newquay and Padstow Coastguard rescue teams, RNLI lifeboats and a Royal Navy helicopter from RNAS Culdrose. 
 
 Image copyright Google Image caption Police described the deaths at Mawgan Porth as a "tragic incident" 
 
 Ian Guy, from the Coastguard's National Maritime Operations Centre, said the three adults were brought in from the sea via a combination of lifeboats and the helicopter. 
 
 The helicopter winch was used to bring one of them to shore and all three were given medical treatment on the beach. 
 
 They were transferred to the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro by the navy helicopter and Devon and Cornwall's air ambulances but pronounced dead in hospital. 
 
 'Tragic accident' 
 
 A spokeswoman for the South Western Ambulance Service described the children as "walking wounded" and said they were also taken to the same hospital for treatment. 
 
 The manager of the nearby Merrymoor Inn, said the children, whom he described as "teenagers", were taken to the pub by police after the incident. 
 
 "They were not injured in any way," he said. "They stayed with us in the building for approximately two-and-a-half hours and left with the emergency services." 
 
 Mr Bennett said the weather conditions were "OK" and described the deaths as a "tragic accident." 
 
 "It's a very sad day for us," he said. 
 
 Image copyright Cornish Guardian/SWNS Image caption Rescuers scoured the waters at Mawgan Porth to make sure no-one was left in the sea 
 
 Image copyright Picture from Eyewitness Image caption A Royal Navy helicopter from RNAS Culdrose was involved in a search for the surfers 
 
 Gareth Horner, Newquay lifeboat operations manager, told ITV News his understanding was the seven were "in two groups and that one of the casualties actually entered the sea to assist other people who were in trouble". 
 
 He also said the beach was "dangerous" and conditions in the area were "not really very good for surfing and bodyboarding". 
 
 Peter Abell, owner of the nearby Kingsurf surfing school - which was not involved in the incident - said sea conditions on Sunday were "not as bad as it can be", but added some currents were "slightly more dangerous than usual". 
 
 He said: "The waves were bigger, they were quite big. It wasn't the safest of days to be in the sea but it wasn't particularly dangerous. 
 
 "There were lots of safe places to be and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." 
 
 Image copyright Lucy Higgins Image caption Coastguards received "multiple 999 calls" when the group got into trouble 
 
 Supt Jim Pearce, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: "This is a tragic incident and our condolences go out to the families of those involved. 
 
 "Along with the other emergency services, we are now working to ascertain the full circumstances of this incident and our priority is to contact the families of those involved and offer all the support we can." 
 
 The tragedy follows the death of a 23-year-old man who drowned in the sea off Newquay in early hours of Saturday. 
 
 Rip currents 
 
 Sometimes wrongly referred to as rip tides, rip currents are strong, localised and narrow currents of water 
 
 They move directly away from the shore and cut through the lines of breaking waves 
 
 The RNLI has said they can be major problem for surfers, swimmers and bodyboarders, dragging them out of safe depths 
 
 People who do not have the necessary water skills can be placed at risk in a rip current if they panic or exhaust themselves swimming directly against the flow 
 
 Source: Press Association and RNLI ||||| Three surfers have died after getting into difficulties in the sea in Cornwall, police have said. 
 
 Two men and a woman were caught in a rip current off Mawgan Porth beach near Newquay at around 1.30pm on Sunday. An air and sea rescue mission was launched after onlookers spotted a group of seven, including four children, in difficulty in the water. 
 
 The three adults were recovered unconscious from the water but were later pronounced dead. The four children were rescued and were safe, police said. 
 
 Police said the woman and one of the men who died were in their 40s and from Cornwall. The second man was in his 50s and was from outside the police force’s area. A spokesman said his family has been contacted. 
 
 Supt Jim Pearce, of Devon and Cornwall police, said: “This is a tragic incident and our condolences go out to the families of those involved. Along with the other emergency services we are now working to ascertain the full circumstances of this incident and our priority is to contact the families of those involved and offer all the support we can.” 
 
 Locals said there were rough seas along the coast on Sunday afternoon. Peter Abell, owner of the Kingsurf surf school at Mawgan Porth – which was not involved in the incident – said some currents were “slightly more dangerous than usual” but conditions were “not as bad” as they could be. “The waves were bigger, they were quite big. And it wasn’t the safest of days to be in the sea,” he said. “But it wasn’t particularly dangerous. There were lots of safe places to be and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” 
 
 Abell, 30, said beaches were always changing, adding: “You can never predict this.” 
 
 Describing the scene as emergency services started to arrive, Abell said: “I’ve never seen so many police cars and coastguards arrive at the beach before. Everyone was standing around the beach going ‘Oh my God, what’s going on?’ 
 
 “There were two helicopters and three lifeboats … so we knew it was a big deal as soon as we saw that.” 
 
 A spokesman at the Merrymoor Inn, which overlooks the beach, praised the response of emergency services: “The emergency services were here incredibly quickly. It was out of this world. They brought some of them into the pub wrapped in blankets, but it is terrible what has happened.” 
 
 It is not known whether the group were experienced surfers. Inexperienced surfers can place themselves at risk in a rip current if they exhaust themselves swimming against the flow or panic. 
 
 It is unclear whether the water was being watched by lifeguards at the time of the incident. They usually operate on the beach between April and September. 
 
 A spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said a search and rescue mission was launched at 1.31pm when onlookers noticed the group in difficulty. RNLI lifeboats and a rescue helicopter, along with Devon and Cornwall police officers and an ambulance crew attended the scene. 
 
 Two of the three recovered from the water were given CPR at the scene before they were airlifted to hospital. 
 
 Mawgan Porth is popular with surfers, who flock to the beach for waves known as Atlantic breakers, and with walkers following the idyllic coastal path. ||||| This undated photo released by the Honolulu Police Department, shows Alec Cooke. Officials are searching for Cooke, a Hawaii big wave surfer, after he went missing on Oahu’s North Shore earlier this week. (Honolulu Police Department via AP) 
 
 The surfers are inevitably dwarfed by the waves they seek — 20-, 30-, and 40-foot walls of water that curl and crash into themselves with the force of a thousand bricks falling. With nothing but 10 feet of fiberglass between themselves and all that ocean, they paddle right into some of the world’s most dangerous waves and attempt to ride them back to shore. 
 
 This is the world of big wave surfers, the daredevil fringe of an already madcap sport. Alec Cooke was one of the biggest risk-takers of them all, a longtime surfer with a stuntman’s sense of adventure — and a showboat’s out-sized ego. 
 
 “I didn’t want to be a member of the big wave riders club,” Cooke once said. “I wanted to be chairman of the board.” 
 
 Cooke, better known among surfers as “Ace Cool,” has been missing since Tuesday afternoon, according to the Honolulu Star Advertiser. He left his home around 4 p.m. to catch 25- and 30-foot waves off the famous north shore of the Hawaiian island of Oahu and never returned. His truck was found parked near the beach, his dog and keys still inside. Only his surfboard was missing. 
 
 Now, the Coast Guard, police and emergency rescuers are scouring the shoreline for the missing man, a 59-year-old with scraggly, chin-length hair and the weathered face of a man who spent his entire life soaked in sea spray and sunlight. 
 
 Though he’s older now, and has largely aged out of the spotlight, Cooke was a celebrity of big wave riding’s revival in the 1980s. In 1983, when “Surfer” magazine published a prominent and somewhat pugnacious piece titled “Whatever Happened to Big-Wave Riding?” Cooke was included in the story. 
 
 The article portrayed big wave surfers — people who rode waves of 25 feet or more — as “gladiators of the sea” and “fighter jocks who went surfing.” 
 
 “What happened?” the article’s author, Leonard Brady, asked. “Will lavender be the board color of the ’80s? Have surfers turned into candyasses?” 
 
 As if determined to prove Brady wrong, that was the same year Cooke declared he would take up the “Kaena Point Challenge,” according to “The Big Drop: Classic Big Wave Surfing Stories.” 
 
 At the time, Kaena Point was the “final frontier in big wave surfing,” writer Matt Warshaw says in the “Encyclopedia of Surfing.” The waves there got as high as 50 feet — and Cooke wanted to be on top of one of them. 
 
 Alec Cooke was a Boston-born, Hawaii-raised surfing stalwart who got his first board at the age of six, according to his “Encyclopedia of Surfing” entry. He body-surfed competitively in his teens and early 20s, then set his sights on bigger waves. 
 
 Unlike most other big wave riders, who tend to be withdrawn and taciturn, Cooke had a penchant for the outrageous — and for outrageous boasts. 
 
 “He told me he wanted to be known as the Evil Knievel of surfing,” said surfing photographer Warren Bolster. “My admonishments to tone it down fell on deaf ears.” 
 
 
 
 Anthony Tashnick of the U.S. goes airborne during the 2008 Big Wave Africa surfing event on Hout Bay off Cape Town, South Africa. 
 
 Bolster was there for Cooke’s most famous stunt — a dangerous and very nearly deadly assault on Kaena Point in January 1985. As massive waves crashed over the reefs just off the westernmost tip of Oahu, Cooke skimmed over them in a helicopter. When Cooke found his spot, he dropped out of the aircraft and settled on his surfboard. Then he waited for the right wave to come. 
 
 When it did, Cooke barely had a choice in the matter. 
 
 “Whether I wanted that wave or not, it wanted me,” he recalled in “The Big Drop: Classic Big Wave Surfing Stories.” “I scratched like a dog, cranking up the sheer liquid wall.” 
 
 The wall was so steep there was nothing to do but ride straight down it. The wave carried him more than a mile. 
 
 Bolster, the photographer, caught the moment on film and turned it into an iconic postcard: Cooke and his board dwarfed by the wall of blue, its white crest curving just over his head. The caption, in soft white script, reads: “The Biggest Wave.” 
 
 But Cooke wasn’t done yet. He stayed out in the surf, waiting for bigger and better swells to come by. 
 
 The wind and water beat at him, wearing him out. At one point, an unrideable wave came rolling through and Cooke had to duck deep below the surface to avoid being tossed around like laundry in a washing machine. 
 
 “When you’re down 20 or 30 feet with a 30-foot wave passing overhead, it gets very dark and quiet,” Cooke wrote. “It’s like your own little world down there … an eerie and hostile place somewhere between a black hole and the Twilight Zone.” 
 
 But he felt peaceful down there too, he added. “Like a cross between the womb and the grave.” It very nearly became the latter. At one point, Cooke was pinned 50 feet below the surface by a massive wave. He estimated he spent two breathless minutes below the surface before he finally popped back up. 
 
 Bolster, who had photographed hundreds of surfing competitions, called Cooke’s performance that day “the heaviest thing I’ve ever seen.” 
 
 Rides like Cooke’s were thrilling, but dangerous. At least four famous surfers have died in the wild waters off Oahu, and several others have died elsewhere. 
 
 “They are virtual kamikaze pilots, baited by swells the size of two-story condominiums and rides that can last one minute at a time,” the New York Times wrote of big wave riders in 1994. Mark Foo, one of big wave surfing’s most famous personalities, had died in the famous Maverick’s waves at Half Moon Bay, Calif., just a few days before. Already surfers were paddling back out toward the deadly swells. 
 
 
 
 Peter Mel catches a wave as Colin Dwyer, below, is near during the second heat of the first round of the Mavericks Invitational big wave surf contest on Friday, Jan. 24, 2014, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. (Eric Risberg/Associated Press) 
 
 Men like Foo and Cooke ran their lives around waves — when they heard about a storm, they’d jump in a plane and fly right into it, even if it was halfway around the world. In an article for Tracks Magazine, Foo compared the sensation to space travel. 
 
 “How can you describe the feeling of looking into a 30-foot tube, like a hole in the ocean?” he wrote. “How do I convey the sights, sounds and sensations that just a handful of humans out of the billions of humans past, present and future will ever experience? What’s it like to walk on the moon, Mr. Armstrong?” 
 
 Like most daredevils in dangerous sports — BASE jumpers, deep sea divers — big wave surfers don’t claim to have a death wish. But Cooke acknowledged death as a possibility. It occurred to him that day at Kaena Point in 1985, as his consciousness flickered in the roiling water beneath a 50-footer. 
 
 “I was beyond the black zone and into the void itself,” he wrote of the experience. “I could feel the pressure from the depth.” 
 
 He waited for the turbulence overhead to subside. Meanwhile, his lungs screamed for air. “Is there air in heaven?” he thought. And then, “Is there surf in heaven?”
– Surf tragedy in Britain: Three people died after being caught in a rip current off a beach in Cornwall yesterday. Police say a man and woman in their 40s and a man in his 50s died after they were pulled unconscious from the water and airlifted to the hospital, reports the BBC. Four children in the same group were saved. An emergency services worker describes conditions at the popular Mawgan Porth as "dangerous" and says one of the casualties entered the water to assist others who were struggling. The owner of a nearby surf school tells the Guardian that while the currents may have been slightly more dangerous than usual, he has seen far worse conditions. "The waves were bigger, they were quite big. And it wasn't the safest of days to be in the sea," he says. "But it wasn't particularly dangerous. There were lots of safe places to be and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." (In California earlier this month, surfers were in the right place at the right time to rescue a couple whose romantic hot-air-balloon ride had gone awry.)