Shoreham search suspended

According to a story in today’s Daily Mail, a search for two missing Romanian men has been suspended after a desperate survivor was found clinging to a buoy after being stranded at sea for five hours.

Two vessels collided overnight around two miles off the coast of Shoreham, according to the RLNI, causing one boat to sink in the English Channel.

Four were left stranded with one man, 45, managing to stay afloat until he was dramatically rescued by fisherman just before 6am this morning.

Another man was pulled out of the water by emergency services at 8.15am but he later died. Two other men are yet to be found.

The rescued man, who said he was part of a crew of four, was found clinging to a buoy and saved by a passing fisherman.

This afternoon the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the search for the two missing people had been suspended, pending further information.

Andy Jenkins, controller with the UK Coastguard said: “Following an extensive search of the area using multiple assets nothing further has been found at this time so the decision has been made to suspend the search pending further information.

He continued: “A review of the incident details will be ongoing through the rest of the day.”

Police say a small boat is believed to have set sail from Brighton just after midnight.

The BBC reported shortly after the vessel was thought to have been ‘hit’ by another boat.

A 45-year-old survivor, described as a Romanian man from London, was found clinging to a buoy by commercial fishermen about two miles west of Shoreham Harbour just after dawn.

He was picked up by an RNLI lifeboat and landed at Shoreham where he was taken to hospital after being stranded in the water for five hours.

The body of another man was recovered from the sea and brought ashore by Coastguard helicopter around 8.15am.