FRESH calls for safety signs along a seafront have been made in wake of two teenagers losing their lives out to sea.

Paul Saunders first asked Tendring Council to look at increasing awareness of the dangers at high tide along Dovercourt seafront in March.

The 63-year-old raised the concerns after witnessing children as young as five playing near the edge of the promenade, "putting their lives at risk".

Mr Saunders is now calling on the council for a second time for it to install safety signs urgently following the death of three teenagers were pulled from the sea in Clacton.

The three teenagers, who are all related, were taken to Colchester Hospital.

Malika Shamas, 14, from Luton, died on Thursday. Her brother Haider Shamas, 18, died in hospital on Saturday.

A 15-year-old girl is expected to make a full recovery.

Mr Saunders, of Allfields, said the tragedy in Clacton makes it even more important to install signage.

He said: "I walk and run along Dovercourt seafront and see children going to the front.

"When I was passing yesterday some rocks the size of my first were flying up into the air from the strength of the sea.

"But there are no warning signs and people coming here from out of the area need to see warning signs.

"You cannot mess with the sea, as you will never win."

Paul said he wanted the signs installed last year, and has not received a response from Tendring Council answering his plea for signage.

He added: "The safety of children and adults should be the council's priority and it scares me there are no signs in place.

"As a parents you have to keep your eyes in the back of your head at all times for your children.

"But children run to the sea and don't realise the strength of the water at high tide."

A Tendring Council spokesman said: “More signage is rarely the right approach to take in these circumstances, and certainly not in isolation. Experience tells us that not only is it very hard to get the messaging right and the signs in the right places, but often warning signs will simply be ignored.

“It is important that any changes made to our seafronts are well thought out.

“That is why we have been carrying out a lot of work with the newly formed Tendring Water Safety Partnership, made up several agencies involved in such issues including the RNLI, to look at what can be done to address these concerns.

“Work has included rolling out water safety messaging to schools through ‘train the trainer’ sessions, development of a water safety film, and being successful in getting the Swim Safe initiative from Swim England and the RNLI to be delivered to 2,000 young people in Dovercourt, Walton and Clacton this summer.

“Part of the Forum’s work also includes a signage review along Clacton seafront, and this could be carried out in other parts of the district too.”