Emergency services including the coastguard helicopter were launched in response to reports of someone in the water this morning – but the “swimmer” turned out to be a log.
Crews from Brighton Lifeboat, Sussex Police, Newhaven Coastguard, Shoreham Coastguard, Sussex Ambulance and the coastguard helicopter joined in the search for a person in the water after being paged at 11.07am.
In a statement, Newhaven Coastguard said: “A search of the area was made and a large piece of timber located by Brighton Lifeboat was confirmed by the first informant to be the object in question.
“All teams stood down.”
The incident was logged (no pun intended) as a false incident with good intent.
