A FAMILY have paid tribute to their “kind and caring” daughter and sister who died days after being found unresponsive in the sea.

Bethany Skinner, 22, was found in the water near Bognor Pier at about 2.25am on Sunday.

She was taken to St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester in a critical condition and she died there on Tuesday.

Police are investigating how Ms Skinner went into the water and have appealed for witnesses.

Her family said: “Our loss is indescribable.

“Bethany’s life was going so well. She grew up in Somerset with her mother and two sisters, had a very successful time studying art at Plymouth University.

"She had recently graduated with a distinction for her art work and for a beautiful, delicate willow structure she had created, which spoke of her love for the natural world and her spiritual relationship with it.

“The willow tent and its comforting hearth spoke of travel, shelter and home and was both timeless and contemporary, with its resonance for displaced people in the world today.

“Beth was working at Butlins in Bognor and had plans to travel after that.

“She was such a kind and caring young woman and the testimonies that her friends and teachers and acquaintances have sent us show how much she had touched the lives of all those around her and what a difference she had made to them.

“These messages have brought us some degree of comfort in our pain.

“While we are mourning the loss of our dearest daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece and cousin we also want to celebrate her talents, her creativity and her achievements. She had her whole future ahead of her and the tragedy is that she has died at the age of 22.

“We would like to thank all the professionals involved in her rescue and treatment, the lifeboat team, the police in Somerset and Sussex, the staff at Butlins who went out of their way to support the family and the doctors and nurses at St Richard’s Hospital who were so kind and compassionate and who did their very best to bring Beth back to us.”