A person feared to be in trouble at sea sparked an urgent rescue mission last night.

The crew from Lyme Regis lifeboat launched late at night on Sunday, June 25 night to begin the search.

Just after 11pm the crew received pager alerts from Solent Coastguard for an immediate launch, the highest priority launch request. Eight minutes later the lifeboat Spirit of Loch Fyne was on the water and on its way to Seaton Beach arriving at 11.25pm.

On arrival, the crew found the casualty had been recovered ashore and was in the care of the Beer coastguard team. The lifeboat was then stood down and returned to Lyme Regis shortly before midnight.

RNLI volunteer helm Seb Cope said: "We launched as quickly as we could because a person in the water is our most urgent call.

"Thankfully, by the time we reached Seaton the casualty had been located by Beer coastguard team and we were not faced with a shoreline search in the dark."

This was the lifeboat crew’s 25th service call this year.