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One man was rescued at sea and two others remain missing after a fishing boat sank off the East Sussex coast.
Rescuers found a man clinging to a lifebuoy after the Coast Guard received an alert signal from fishing boat Joanna C at 6 a.m. Saturday.
HM Coastguard dispatched a search and rescue helicopter from Lydd in Kent, and two RNLI lifeboats based in Newhaven and Eastbourne to locate the missing boat.
The alert from the ship’s distress beacon put the ship three nautical miles off the coast of Seaford, near Newhaven.
In an update at 10.30am, HM Coastguard said a man had been rescued from the water by the Newhaven RNLI lifeboat and was taken to hospital.
The Joanna C is a 45-foot scalloped boat registered in Brixham, the Coast Guard said, and three people were on board when it sank.
The search for the two people who are still missing continues.
In addition to the RNLI lifeboats, the Birling Gap Coast Guard Rescue Team is checking for sightings from shore.
Another fishing vessel close to the area is assisting with the search, while the Solent-based Coast Guard rescue helicopter has been deployed to assist the Kent-based aircraft.
HM Coast Guard Controller Piers Stanbury said: “Fortunately, one of the three people on board at the time of the sinking has been pulled out of the water and brought to shore by the Newhaven RNLI lifeboat, but the intensive search by air and sea of the two missing crew members continues “. .
“Debris has been located near the location of the EPIRB alert, but no life raft has yet been found.”
