LIFEBOAT crews retrieved the body of a person who fell from cliffs during a busy week for the service.

Emergency services have warned that as the weather warms up and the summer season begins the number of calls for their help increases rapidly.

Rescuers were called to look for three people off Sussex’s coast over the weekend, and tragically a body was recovered from the foot of cliffs in Peacehaven after Newhaven lifeboat crew were called to reports of a person in the water at about 2.50pm on Friday.

The casualty was spotted in the water close to the shoreline but was already dead by the time lifeboat crew arrived.

Coxswain Paul Legendre said: “This is always a difficult job for our volunteer crews, who handle the tough task with the greatest of dignity and respect.

“Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the casualty.”

On Saturday two lifeboats were launched after the discovery of a pile of clothes on the beach between the West Pier and Palace Pier.

An extensive search was carried out between Brighton Marina and the West Pier, together with the Brighton lifeboat and Solent Coastguard, but nothing was found. All services were stood down just after 2pm.

Earlier in the week the Shoreham lifeboat was also in action again, this time launched in response to reports of a distressed woman in a canal north of Parks Steel in Southwick.

Crew arrived at about 10.20pm and found the woman having difficulties in the canal, staying just above the water line. She refused to get into the boat but the crew eventually grabbed her and pulled her in.

She was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with hypothermia.

Jade Cohen, press officer for the Brighton lifeboat, said crews are called out to an increasing number of jobs as the warmer months draw closer.

She said: “More people are enjoying the beach as the weather gets warmer and with that the number of call-outs we receive goes up too.

“Sometimes people leave clothes on the beach and concerned residents will call us, or maybe someone has gone for a swim and not returned for a while. Other times boat owners will take their boats out for the first time in a while and haven’t maintained them properly, and require a pull-back to shore.

“Our advice to people is to speak to the Seafront Office to ask where is best and safest to go for a swim, maybe let them know you’re leaving your clothes too.

“If you’re swimming alone, tell someone what time you intend to come back. And of course have fun, enjoy the warm weather and the beach.”