FRANTIC searches were made of a beach for anyone trapped after a giant rockfall on the Jurassic Coast.

Emergency services were called to East Beach in West Bay on Tuesday evening after a kayaker witnessed the ‘medium to large’ fall from the water.

No-one was found to be harmed following extensive searches.

But visitors to the area are being urged to stay safe and not to look for fossils in the rockfall.

Coastguard rescue teams from West Bay and Lyme Regis, the Coastguard search and rescue helicopter, Dorset Police, the NPAS police helicopter, Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service and Devon and Somerset Urban Search and Rescue Team were all sent to the area to establish if anyone was caught in the cliff fall. South West Ambulance Service was also alerted.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it was called and helped police to search. The police helicopter searched the pile of rocks with an infra-red camera.

Yesterday morning, Dorset Police said they had ‘no record of anyone sustaining any injuries and we do not have any information to suggest anyone was trapped under the rubble.’

At 10am yesterday, the MCA announced that the multi-agency search of the area including a specialist urban response team and a dog unit had been called off. They said there was ‘no suggestion’ that anyone had been caught in the landslip and the beach was re-opened.

Peter Davies, duty controller at the UK Coastguard, said: “The cliff fall is an example of just how unstable cliff edges can be.

“The incident could have had a very different outcome, and fortunately no one was seriously hurt or worse.

“We want everyone to enjoy our beautiful coastline but we want you to do it safely. Please keep you distance from cliff edges both at the top and at the bottom, as cliffs really can crumble without warning.”

Doug Chalk was fishing when he saw the rock fall take place. He said that musicians performing on the pier were drowned out by the noise of rocks crashing to the ground.

He said: “I was fishing on the pier and heard the bang and looked along the cliff. It was still sliding down the beach with a large cloud of dust. As far as I could see, there was nobody right there at the time, luckily.”

Sam Rose, Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site manager, reminded visitors to the coast to stay safe.

He said: “The fall has come from mid-way down the cliffs and not the top, so as far as we are aware the coast path is not affected.

“Rockfalls at West Bay and Burton Bradstock are entirely unpredictable and so these words have a particular strength at this location. Also, please do not go just to look at this, it is not a tourist attraction, and there are no fossils to be found in the rocks there.”