A man is feared dead after reports that he was stung by a swarm of jellyfish in waters off the East Sussex Coast. Two other people have been taken to hospital with life-threatening conditions. A search and rescue operation is being conducted to find the missing swimmer who is believed to be still in the water.

One of the two men, who are believed to have suffered "heart attacks" according to The Metro, is being treated in the William Harvey hospital in Ashford. The two people were resuscitated on the beach, according to the South East Coast Air Ambulance. They are both believed to have suffered cardiac arrests as a result of the jellyfish stings.

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Police, the Rye RNLI lifeboat and the Coastguard rescue helicopters are still searching for the missing man in the water.

"UK Coastguard is coordinating an incident at Camber Sands after a number of people got into difficulty in the water," a Coastguard spokesman said.

"One casualty has been transferred to hospital by Coastguard helicopter and a second person has been taken to hospital by ambulance.

"Coastguard Rescue Teams from Dungeness and Rye, Coastguard rescue helicopters from Lydd and Solent, Rye RNLI lifeboat, beach lifeguards and police are currently searching for a missing person last seen in the water."

Sussex Police has declared the swarm it a major incident and confirmed that one person was still missing. Frantic calls to the emergency services were made regarding two people who were seen struggling in the water, with the ambulance service called at around 12.40pm.

Elizabeth Howarth was on the beach at the time, said that she saw a man being resuscitated on the beach. She tweeted: "They were working on him for so long, It looked bad."

It has not been established what species of jellyfish was present in the waters off the Sussex coast. According to the Marine Conservation Society's Biodiversity and Fisheries programme manager Dr Peter Richardson: "Our national jellyfish survey suggests significant recent rises in the numbers of some jellyfish species in UK seas, most notably the barrel jellyfish.

"The million-dollar question is why this is happening? At the moment we just don't know," he told the Mirror.