Three men drowned when a baptism in the sea went badly wrong on Sunday morning in Cape Town, South Africa.

A City of Cape Town law enforcement spokesman, Wayne Dyason, said that the incident happened at around 7.45am close to Monwabisi near Khayelitsha.

'While conducting the baptism two of the church members got into difficulty in the water,' Dyason said, adding that a member of the public went into the water to try to rescue them. All three men drowned.

According to Times Live, it is unclear if the third man, whose body had not been recovered yesterday, was a church member.

Dyason said baptisms are common along the coastline at False Bay where the incident took place.

'It's not the first time that people drown during these baptisms,' he said.

The National Sea Rescue Institute station commander at Strandfontein, Vaugh Seconds, said it was believed the men had been swept out to sea by rip currents.

Seconds said that his duty crew had been activated at 8.01am on Sunday morning by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) following reports from Metro Control of a drowning at Monwabisi.

'On arrival on the scene we found one adult male was out of the water and confirmed to be deceased and two adult males remained missing in the surf.

'It appears that the three men may have been swept out to sea by rip currents during a baptism ceremony in the surf,' Seconds said.

'During an extensive sea and shoreline search a police dive unit located and recovered the body of one of the missing men and Police divers are continuing an ongoing search operation for the remaining missing man.'