A six-year-old girl has died after being pulled out of the sea at Margate Harbour yesterday.

The youngster, from Erith, London was rushed to hospital in a 'very serious condition'.

Concerns for her welfare sparked a huge emergency response, with multiple police and ambulance crews seen on Margate Beach at around 3.15pm. The RNLI were also involved in the rescue mission.

But this morning, police confirmed the youngster had died. Her next of kin have been informed.

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

"Officers and the South East Coast Ambulance Service attended the scene and the 6-year-old from Erith was taken to hospital, where she later died."

Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a report is being prepared for the coroner.

Following the tragedy, the RNLI has issued safety advice for visitors.

James Uren, RNLI area manager for North Kent, said: "If anyone is coming to the beach over the summer holidays we ask them to take a moment when they arrive on the beach to stop and have a look at the signage, the flagged areas the lifeguards have put out, and try and find a meeting point so if anyone becomes separated they can find each other.

"We also ask them to heed any information that comes out over the tannoys.

"We know that adults and children alike are safest when supervised, so we'd advocate that if people are going down to the water, to always go in a pair, come out of the water together, and keep an eye on each other. The number of windbreaks and tents on the beach can become disorientating for younger people, they may be able to lose their way back."

He said the heatwave had brought a lot more visitors to the beach but that conditions in the sea yesterday had been no different to those experienced in the previous fortnight.

One beach goer, James Mills from Margate, said the incident had brought home to him how dangerous the water can be.

He said: "You don't expect something like this to happen on a sunny beach. I suppose it highlights that you need to be careful.

"We need to watch out. It could happen to anyone."