The bodies were found on the beach off the town of Le Crotoy on the northern French coast. PHOTO: AFP
A fourth person aged 15 was rescued, suffering from hypothermia, and taken to hospital, they added.
The Amiens prefecture said the bodies of a man and a woman in their 50s were found on the beach at Crotoy after midnight while the body of another man was recovered later.
It said eight kayakers, members of a local club at Saint-Valery-Sur-Somme, set out Saturday afternoon but they split up into two groups, with four returning to base and the others continuing, aiming for Cayeux-sur-Mer down the coast.
The alarm was raised at 17:45 pm (1645 GMT), with two helicopters and rescue boats involved.
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