Three bodies were found below England’s most famous chalk cliff on the same afternoon Wednesday but, not strangely for that locale, the deaths probably aren’t connected, authorities said.
The bodies were at the bottom of Beachy Head cliff in East Sussex, a chalk headland near Eastbourne, the Express reported.
The cliff, which attracts more than 300,000 tourists annually, is about 550 feet high, The Telegraph reported, which makes it notorious for suicides.
The Independent called Beachy Head the most famous suicide spot in England, adding that for centuries people have leapt to their deaths there. Between 12 and 28 deaths are recorded each year.
Police were called to the area about 3:30 p.m. after the first body was discovered, The Telegraph said.
The Sun reported that the body of a 58-year-old London man was found and while his body was being recovered, emergency crews found the body of a badly decomposed woman nearby.
About 40 minutes later, a third body was discovered in the area, authorities told The Sun.
Police said the deaths are not being treated as suspicious.
The Daily Star reported that media accounts of authorities searching for a fourth missing person were denied by police on Thursday.
In May, a car plunged more than 500 feet off the cliff, the Daily Star said.
The chalk cliffs are pure white limestone formed from the remains of tiny marine organisms that lived and died in clear warm seas that covered much of Britain around 70 to 100 million years ago, according to the Geological Society of London.
The cliffs, though, are eroded from wave action at the cliff foot, the Geological Society website stated. Heavy rains also erode the chalk because it is porous and drains quickly into cracks and cavities, trapping the water. Chalk ground water provides much of the tap water for east and southeast England.
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