Three people are taken to hospital after getting into difficulty in water near Clacton Pier - as UK heatwave continues

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Published: 14:38 EDT, 25 July 2026 | Updated: 15:17 EDT, 25 July 2026 Three people have been taken to hospital after getting into difficulty in the water near Clacton Pier, as the fourth heatwave to hit the UK continues. Emergency services and a helicopter attended the popular beach in Essex this afternoon shortly after 4.30pm, after reports of swimmers in difficulty. Three people were brought ashore and all were rushed to hospital requiring medical treatment. The incident comes as high temperatures are set to hit the country once again next week, amid fears of droughts and wildfires in Scotland and the south of England. A statement from Essex Police this afternoon said: 'All emergency services have been at the scene of an incident close to Clacton Pier, which began shortly after 4.30pm today.'Ambulance service colleagues reported three people had got into difficulty in the water and had been brought ashore.'All three required medical treatment and have been taken to hospital for further care.'Thank you to everyone who followed instructions to allow emergency services to work quickly at the scene.' Emergency services were called to the beach near Clacton Pier (pictured) on Saturday afternoon The Met Office forecast for London shows the heatwave criteria of temperatures at least 28C for three consecutive days could be met between Tuesday and Thursday next weekHeat alerts are in place across parts of England this weekend, with officials warning that temperatures are likely to impact on health and wellbeing. Yellow alerts for the East Midlands, East of England, London, South East, South West and West Midlands are in place until 9am on Sunday morning. Cooler and fresher weather is expected widely on Sunday, ending the longest running heatwaves with highs of 25C and 26C possible in the South East and high teens and low 20s more widely elsewhere. But the heat will climb again at the start of next week, with Monday's high forecast at 27C in the South East, just below the area's heatwave threshold of 28C. Heatwave thresholds will start to be topped the following day, with highs of more than 30C expected until Thursday in the South East. Next week's heatwave may also not be the last of the summer, the Met Office's long range forecast suggests. No rain has fallen in July in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and West Sussex, and 16 counties have recorded 0.1mm, which 'might just be a bit of dew on the grass', said the Met Office's senior operational meteorologist Marco Petagna. The UK has had 20 per cent of its average July rainfall, which takes into account the wetter areas. Mr Petagna added that it is 'very, very unusual' for a hot and dry spell to last this long. The dry conditions follow last year's drought summer, as the UK faces more extreme weather fuelled by human-caused climate change, mostly from burning fossil fuels.