Flowers yesterday marked the spot where a young family was devastated by a giant wave during a sea-front stroll.

A search resumed for a 13-year-old girl lost at sea in the incident which killed her brother, 11, and 33-year-old mum.

The mother's boyfriend managed to rescue her eight-year-old son from the sea at Scarborough.

The surviving duo clung to each other as rescuers tried in vain to save the rest of their family.

Purple flowers were laid next to the slipway which the children were swept off by a 12ft wave at 4pm on Sunday.

The three kids may have been "wave dodging" on the slipway according to witnesses yesterday.

When they were sucked into the sea by the towering wave their mother and her boyfriend leapt in after them.

He rescued the youngest boy but the mum could not reach the older children.

The mother and son were rescued after five minutes in the sea by a hastily scrambled RAF helicopter which was in the area returning from another mission.

Tragically despite the efforts of emergency staff both died on arrival at hospital and the 13-year-old had still not been found yesterday.

Lynda Ford, 53, owner of the Oasis snack bar on the front at Scarborough's North Bay was one of several people who called the emergency services.

Mrs Ford said: "It is such an awful, awful tragedy but you could see it was going to happen some time.

"There should be a gate on the slipway to stop people going down there, it is so dangerous.

"The sea was heavy and the waves were lashing right across the road, so much so that we had to close the cafe.

"It really is terrible and I hope people learn from this tragedy not to go wave dodging.

"Everyone here feels for this family, it really is the most awful shame, I have not been able to sleep for thinking about them."

One member of a rescue crew involved in the operation said: "It was a very sad day and no one will rest until this young girl is recovered from the sea.

"They were a young family, apparently from the Hull area, who were just having a walk along the seafront.

"The waves were huge for parts of yesterday afternoon and the kids wouldn't have had a chance when it hit the slipway.

"It's hard to describe how difficult it is to function when you hit the freezing water so suddenly.

"It is amazing that the chap managed to get the eight-year-old lad out safely, he did very well to reach him.

"Everyone involved in the rescue was devastated when we heard the mother and son had died at hospital, it was a real blow because we thought they had a chance."