Coastguards recovered the body of a man from the sea off Felixstowe on Saturday afternoon.
The drama happened at about 4.20pm off the Dip at Felixstowe – but other people in the sea at the time were unaware of the tragedy that was unfolding.
An RNLI inshore rescue crew from Harwich were called out after the man’s body was spotted in the sea by a group of windsurfers offshore.
The body was recovered by the lifeboat and taken back to their Harwich base where the death was certified and the body was taken away in a private ambulance.
Police from Suffolk and Essex are co-operating on the investigation into the death. The body was taken to a mortuary in Essex but a spokeswoman in Chelmsford said the investigation would be handled by Suffolk police.
The tragedy is the second drowning in the area within a few days.
On Wednesday the body of a man was pulled from the River Orwell between Pin Mill and Levington.
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