A six-year-old girl has died in hospital after she got into difficulty in the sea at Margate Harbour, Kent Police said.

Police said in a statement that officers were called to reports of concerns for a girl in the sea at the popular seaside attraction at 3.13pm on Saturday.

The child was from Erith, south-east London, and there were no suspicious circumstances, the force added.

One local man said the beach was “heaving” with tourists on what he described as a warm but windy day.

He said he saw the emergency services “swarm” the harbour in their effort to rescue the girl.

The father-of-three, who did not want to give his name, said he found the incident “very upsetting”.

He added: “(It) makes me want to avoid going in the water.”

Kent Police said: “Kent Police was called at 3.13pm on Saturday July 28 to concerns for a girl in the sea at Margate Harbour.

“Officers and the South East Coast Ambulance Service attended the scene and the six-year-old from Erith was taken to hospital, where she later died.

“Her next of kin have been informed.  There are no suspicious circumstances and a report is being prepared for the coroner.”

It is the latest death in recent days concerning people in difficulty in water.

Two bodies were recovered on Saturday in separate incidents.

The body of a 15-year-old teenager, provisionally named as Ben Quartermaine, was found near Clacton Pier in Essex after a search which began on Thursday.

In Bedfordshire the body of a man in his late 20s was recovered from the Great Ouse river after reports someone had got into difficulty there on Friday afternoon.