The coastguard recovered a body off the coast of Sussex after a boat sank in the English channel early today. Two other people are missing and one has been rescued alive.
A major search and rescue operation was launched after the vessel sank near Shoreham, between Brighton and Worthing, shortly before 6am, emergency services said.
The boat is believed to have left Brighton marina at about midnight. A Sussex police spokesman said they were assisting the coastguard “after a man was pulled alive from the sea by fishermen just after dawn on Sunday”.
He added: “It is believed that he was with three other men on a boat out of Brighton marina. The body of one man has been recovered and brought ashore by coastguard helicopter. A search of sea and coastline is under way to find any survivors.”
Lifeboats from Brighton and Shoreham and two coastguard helicopters are being assisted by other local boats in the search.
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The rescued man was found in the water by a fishing vessel two miles from Shoreham harbour at around 5.50am, the coastguard said. The 45-year-old, believed to be Romanian, was found clinging to a buoy.
He was rushed to shore and taken to hospital suffering from the effects of the cold.
Matt Pavitt, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s south east coastal operations area commander, told the BBC: “Anybody that spends that length of time, numerous hours potentially, in the sea without any protective equipment – at this time of year it’s a nice day but the sea is still cold – is very, very lucky to be alive.”
The body of the dead man was found at about 8.15am. The Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched in inquiry.