A frantic search for two fishermen is underway after a boat sank off the south coast.

Fishing boat JOANNA C sank at about 6am this morning off Newhaven in East Sussex with three crew members on board.

One man was rescued from the water by Newhaven lifeboat after he was found clinging to a lifebuoy. He has been transferred to hospital for treatment.

However the search continues across the south coast for the two otehr missing fishermen.

The search began at 6am this morning, when HM Coastguard received an EPIRB alert located three nautical miles off the coast at Seaford near Newhaven, from the vessel's emergency beacon.

HM Coastguard immediately sent the coastguard rescue helicopter from Lydd, supported by the coastguard rescue helicopter based at Lee On Solent and RNLI all weather lifeboats from both Newhaven and Eastbourne.

Birling Gap Coastguard Rescue Team has been sent to check for sightings from the shore.

Other fishing vessels in the area responded to the Coastguard radio broadcasts and have been helping with the search.

The fishing vessel JOANNA C is a 45 foot scalloping vessel, registered in Brixham and three people were on board at the time of the sinking.

Piers Stanbury, HM Coastguard Controller and the National Maritime Operations Centre 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 location of the EPIRB alert location but no life raft has been found as yet."