Lifeguards would have prevented five young friends from drowning at a popular south coast beach, one of the victims' relatives has said ahead of an inquest.

Ajirthan Ravi, the brother of victim Nitharsan Ravi, said he hopes the inquest will lead to an improvement of safety at Camber Sands, near Rye, East Sussex, following last August's tragedy.

Before an inquest got under way in Hastings, Mr Ravi told reporters: "We are just hoping that it will be more secure and safer and more lifeguards, and that people are more protected."

He described the last 10 months as "tragic", and that he believes having lifeguards at Camber at the time would have prevented the deaths, adding: "They would have prevented it."

The five men who died were Kenugen Saththiyanathan, 18, known as Ken, and his brother Kobikanthan Saththiyanathan, 22, known as Kobi, both of Normandy Way, Erith, south-east London, and their friends Nitharsan Ravi, 22, of Admaston Road, Plumstead, south-east London, Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, of Chadwell Road, Grays, Essex, and Gurushanth Srithavarajah, 27, of Elsa Road, Welling, south-east London.

About a month before the tragedy, two other people also lost their lives at Camber. Mohit Dupar, 36, from Hayes, west London, tried to reach Brazilian Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, as he got into difficulty but both men died.

The circumstances surrounding their deaths will also be considered as part of the inquest into the five friends' loss of life.

An inquest into Mr Dupar and Mr Da Cruz's deaths was adjourned last November by East Sussex senior coroner Alan Craze.

Rother District Council agreed in February to allocate £51,000 in its 2017/18 budget to bring in seasonal lifeguard cover following demands for safety to be increased at Camber, which can attract up to 30,000 day-trippers during peak season.

Council officials have said the beach, which is three miles long (4.8km) and nearly half-a-mile (700m) wide at low tide, can never be completely risk-free but they are determined to boost safety.

Four lifeguards will patrol Camber Sands Central from 10am to 6pm, seven days a week, until October 1. A further two lifeguards will patrol Camber Sands West during the same times from July 8 to September 10.

In previous years, the council provided a beach patrol service to help with tasks including reuniting lost children with their parents.

This year's RNLI lifeguards will work alongside the beach patrol following a formal request from the council.