Four bodies have been discovered at the foot of the south coast's towering Beachy Head, a notorious suicide spot.
"The bodies are in various stages of decomposition, indicating that they may have been in the water for varying lengths of time," a spokesman for Sussex police said.
"They appear to have been washed in by the high tides and high winds of the last 24 hours," he added.
The bodies were spotted beneath the 160 metre chalk cliffs on Friday afternoon by a police helicopter patrolling the coastline.
The spokesman said it should not be assumed that the four were suicide victims who had all been washed up at once by some grisly quirk of ocean currents.
"Nothing is certain," he said. "So far they have only been seen from the helicopter, we're trying to retrieve them now."
"The bodies are in various stages of decomposition, indicating that they may have been in the water for varying lengths of time," a spokesman for Sussex police said.
"They appear to have been washed in by the high tides and high winds of the last 24 hours," he added.
The bodies were spotted beneath the 160 metre chalk cliffs on Friday afternoon by a police helicopter patrolling the coastline.
The spokesman said it should not be assumed that the four were suicide victims who had all been washed up at once by some grisly quirk of ocean currents.
"Nothing is certain," he said. "So far they have only been seen from the helicopter, we're trying to retrieve them now."
