Two boys and a man missing in separate sea incidents off Wales

Two boys and a man are feared dead after they went missing off the Welsh coast.

A 14-year-old and 15-year-old were swimming in the sea off Barmouth beach when they got into difficulties at around 1.40pm on Sunday.

In an unrelated incident a man was swept off a rock and into the water at Cardigan Bay the same afternoon.

Conditions on the day were "choppy" and separate searches were carried out in strong winds but none of the individuals has been found.

The two teenagers were part of a large group visiting the beach from Birmingham.

RNLI lifeboats, coastguard teams and the rescue helicopter were immediately sent to the scene but the rescue operation had to be called off for the night.

A coastguard spokeswoman said: "It was an intensive search of the area. Sadly they have not been found.

"It was reported the boys were aged 14 and 15 and part of a large group of people.

"It looks like there were two people in difficulty and another person in their same group went in to help.

"That person managed to get out of the water - both the other two were still in difficulty."

She added: "There were a lot of people there - our report was that there were a number of people in the water and two people unaccounted for, one person had been seen to disappear under the water.

"When the group on the beach checked who they had with them and who they didn't there were two people from the group unaccounted for and missing in the water."

At around 2pm on Sunday a man was swept off a rock at Mwnt, Cardigan Bay.

He got cut off by the tide while walking with another man and fell or was washed into the sea, the coastguard said.

Lifeboat crews and coastguard teams were sent out along with the rescue helicopter but were forced to stop the search when darkness fell.

A coastguard spokeswoman said: "There has been an intensive search for that man but he has not been found.

"He was an adult male and was washed or fell off rocks while he was with another man."

An RNLI spokesman said: "The lifeboats carried out extensive searches in the waters off Mwnt while the Coastguard Rescue helicopter from St Athan and Coastguard Rescue Teams from Gwbert, Cardigan and Moylegrove also searched from the air and on the shoreline.

"After six hours of searching in Force 7 (near gale) winds and choppy seas the sea search was stood down by HM Coastguard and the RNLI lifeboats from all three stations were released to return to station, where they will be made ready to re-launch if requested by HM Coastguard."