An inquest has heard that a 21-year-old man drowned on the hottest day of the year after going missing off the Essex coast.

Sujal Sahu and five friends got into difficulty in the water near Clacton Pier at about 11.30am on Tuesday, July 19.

Emergency services rescued five people, but both the coastguard and police continued to search for Mr Sahu for a number of days.

A spokesman for Essex Police confirmed that officers located a body of a man in Jaywick, near the village's Martello Tower, on July 23.

That body was identified as Mr Sahu by his family.

Essex Coroner’s Court heard that a postmortem examination at Colchester Hospital, concluded that Mr Sahu had drowned, pending a toxicology report.

The inquest was adjourned until July next year, although senior coroner Lincoln Brookes indicated this was a “backstop date” that could be brought forward.

Mr Sahu, who grew up in Rajasthan, India was in the UK studying computer science at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

Rishabh Rathore, who studied at Anglia Ruskin University with Mr Sahu, said the 21-year-old had "so many dreams" and "lived life to the fullest".

He added: "He was a very friendly person and he was helping and kind, he never did anything wrong to anyone.

"He lived his life to the fullest. He enjoyed his studying and he had a lot of dreams as well.

"Me and Sujal came to England at the same time and we were in the same class and we were together from the very first day.

"He used to tell me his main goal was to become a top engineer in a big company so that he could give a better life to his family.

"He just wanted to give his family a better life.

Rishabh was with Sujal on the day he went missing at Clacton but was not one of the five people rescued from the sea.

"His family are devastated," Rishabh said.

"They are in a lot of shock. His parents have spent all their life savings to send him here so that he could get a better life for him and his family."