A man has been pulled from the water and two are still missing after a fishing boat sank off the coast of East Sussex.
HM Coastguard scrambled a search and rescue helicopter after receiving a distress beacon from fishing vessel Joanna C at 6am on Saturday.
The rescue helicopter based at Lydd, Kent, was deployed along with two RNLI lifeboats based in Newhaven and Eastbourne to try to find the missing boat.
The beacon’s signal put the vessel three nautical miles off the coast of Seaford, near Newhaven.
In an update at 10.30am, HM Coastguard said one man had been rescued from the water by the Newhaven RNLI lifeboat after being found clinging to a lifebuoy and has been transferred to hospital.
The Joanna C is a 45ft scalloping vessel registered in Brixham, the Coastguard said, and three people were aboard when it sank.
The search continues for the two missing crewmen.
As well as the RNLI lifeboats, the Birling Gap Coastguard rescue team is checking for sightings from the shore.
Another fishing vessel close to the area is helping with the search, while the coastguard rescue helicopter based in the Solent has been deployed to relieve the Kent-based aircraft.
HM Coastguard controller Piers Stanbury said: “Thankfully one of the three people on board at the time of sinking has been pulled out of the water and brought to shore by the Newhaven RNLI lifeboat but the intensive air and sea search for the two missing crew continues.
“Debris has been located close to the location of the EPIRB alert location but no life raft has been found as yet.”