Renowned sand sculptor Sudarsan Pattnaik brought a touch of Indian art to Southend thanks to bosses at Essex Radio.

Mr Pattnaik, 23, from Puri, dazzled tourists when he carved an image of the goddess Durge in the sands of Three Shells Beach.

The Southend stop-off on Mr Pattnaik's world tour was arranged via Essex Radio's chairman Professor Eric Moonman. A spokeswoman for the radio station said: "Durge is the goddess of prosperity so it was quite nice that he brought prosperity to Southend."

Mr Pattnaik, a trained water colour painter, discovered his natural gift for sand sculpting when he produced an image of Lord Shiva on the beach of his home town.

Using just his fingers and nails, he has sculpted numerous images of Durge and also the goddess Kali around the world.

Heavenly bodies -Sudarsan Pattnaik carved an image of the goddess Durge at Three Shells Beach

Picture: STEPHEN LLOYD

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