Along with thousands of other people across the country yesterday, they decided to enjoy one of the hottest days of the year by taking a trip to the beach.
However, Nitharsan Ravi, 22, Inthushan Sri, Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 27, and brothers Kobi and Ken Nathan, did not return home from Camber Sands.
The bodies of the five men were pulled out of the water on the Sussex coast between 2pm and 8pm.
It has now emerged that the five friends could have got trapped on a sandbar after playing football on the beach.
The RNLI says it does not believe the men died because of fast-moving rip currents.
Instead it is thought the men fell into deep channels of water called sandbars after underestimating how quickly the tide would come in while they played football.
Regulars to the beach said the tide yesterday was the quickest they've ever seen.
Nitharsan's brother Ajirthan Ravi, today said he thought the five friends died because they did not have the stamina to swim back to shore as the tide engulfed them.
He said: "The five of them went in the car yesterday to Camber Sands on a day trip because they knew it was supposed to be one of the hottest days of the year.
"They hadn't been before.
"My brother could swim just like the rest of them could but because of the strong tide it wore them off easily.
"They drowned because of a lack of stamina from the tidal effect."
"A five minutes delay caused this death toll I recommend there to be a reliable lifeguard.
"A lifeguard could have saved their lives."
Ben Withershaw, who lives in nearby Rye, had been at Camber for the third day in a row with his family.
The 32-year-old said: "We come down here a lot and yesterday was the quickest tide I've seen ever.
"Every 10, 15 minutes we had move back from the tide as it came in.
"It was coming so fast we had to help people move their stuff back."
Nitharsan drove the group down to the East Sussex beach in his silver VW Golf GTI, which was later found by police parked where they had left it outside the beach.
His father told the Evening Standard from the family home in Woolwich, south London, that he was too upset to comment on his son's death.
Friend Jackson Bosco paid tribute on Facebook, saying: "Can't believe to hear the news that you were one of the boys at Camber Sands.
"You were truly a good person with a good heart. You are going to be missed on this earth."
On Nitharsan's Facebook page, it says he is a student at the University of Brighton.
Friends of Inthushan Sri have been changing their Facebook profiles to pictures of his face.
One friend wrote: "RIP. Miss you."
Lanz Theivendram posted a picture of Kobi Nathan and Inthushan on Facebook, writing that he was feeling “heartbroken”.
Along with a picture of Kobi, he wrote: “Can’t believe the fact you two are no more here.
"It really hurts as I can not digest the fact that you two have left us. RIP to you and those who have passed away with you."
The victims were all from London, in their late teens and 20s and had visited the popular Sussex resort together on a day trip.
Thousands of horrified sunbathers watched as the bodies of three men were lifted from the sea after mystery deaths on the hottest day of the year.
Two more were discovered washed up on the shore by a member of the public at 8pm.
Some witnesses claimed the men had been fully clothed when they were dragged from the water - sparking rumours they may have been migrants.
However today Chief Superintendent Di Roskilly of Sussex Police said: "We believe we now know who the men are and that they came to the beach together for the day.
"We believe they are all in their late teens and early 20s and come from the Greater London area."
"These men were not fully clothed when they were pulled from the sea but wearing clothes appropriate for being at the beach for the day," she continued,
"We have no further reports of anyone else missing from Camber and there are no ongoing searches related to this incident.
"This has been an incredibly tragic incident and we are offering their next of kin support at this difficult time and our thoughts are with them."
Many beachgoers were in tears, as parents tried to shield children from the upsetting sight of the men being recovered.
The deaths brought the UK drowning toll to 12 in the past week.
About 20 miles up the coast in May, 18 Albanians and two Britons were rescued from a boat off Dymchurch, leading to speculation the Camber Sands dead were migrants.
Witnesses described bodies being pulled from the water wearing "shorts and t-shirts" and they did not appear to have any family or friends on the beach with them.
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