The Coastguard has urged holidaymakers and swimmers to be aware of lifeguards’ warnings and changeable weather after six people died in seas around Britain.

Strong winds and high tides are feared to be behind the deaths of three men, two women and a young boy in Cornwall, Aberdeen, Dorset, Essex and Jersey.

The UK Coastguard says people should be careful around surging waves.

“Do listen to warnings and stay at a safe distance from the water,” said James Instance from the agency.

The first of the deaths this weekend happened on Friday afternoon when high waves knocked a family off rocks on a Cornish beach, and swept them out to sea.

Rudy and Lisinda Bruynius and their two-year-old daughter were rescued but the Mr Bruynius died later in hospital. Their daughter Mckayla is still in hospital, reported to be in a serious condition.

The couple’s two sons had managed to scramble back on to rocks at South Fistral Beach, in Newquay.

Coastguards dealing with the rescue said the sea had gone from normal to a swell of up to 10ft in an hour, which had caught people off guard.

Safety zones

Around midday on Saturday, a windsurfer died after getting into difficulties off the Essex coast.

The man, in his 60s, was rescued in the sea off West Mersea and airlifted to hospital, but later died.

And several hours later, lifeguards went to the rescue of a swimmer caught up in rough seas near Poole in Dorset.

The man had gone outside a safety zone at Sandbanks as winds picked up to gale force eight, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and has not yet been formally identified.

Later that day, in Aberdeen, two brothers were paddling in the water when they were swept away.

Their mother and others tried to save them, but they too had to be rescued. Five of them were taken to hospital but the mother, Julie Walker, and her six-year-old son Lucas from Aberdeen did not survive.

Police Scotland praised Lucas’ older brother, Samuel, who tried to rescue Lucas and his mother. Samuel is making a steady recovery in hospital, police have said.

A man and a woman, who were also rescued, have been discharged from hospital.

Swimmers in difficulty

On Saturday night, a sixth person lost their life off the Jersey coast, where a high tide and strong winds had made sea conditions treacherous.

Two swimmers had got into difficulty off Green Island – a man was rescued by a member of the public, a woman was picked up by an RNLI lifeboat and taken to hospital but later died. Police have named her as Joy Godfray.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency advises holidaymakers to:

• Stay away from areas where there are surging waves

• Be careful of tides – the agency says it is “easy to become cut off and strong wind conditions will mean that the sea will reach higher levels than expected”

• Heed warnings from lifeguards