COASTGUARD crews responded to a spoken-word Mayday distress call yesterday afternoon.
A helicopter from Solent coastguard and two RNLI boats, one from Selsey, were dispatched to search a patch of the Channel several square miles in size, south of the West Sussex and Hampshire coast, at 3.40pm.
Communication with what is thought to be a boat ceased soon after the initial call, leaving emergency services with little information to go on.
To make matters more difficult, the Coastguard is not certain where exactly it came from.
UPDATE
The distress call was reported by several vessels.
It was a female voice shouting Mayday, possibly three times.
Three all-weather lifeboats, including one from Selsey, were dispatched in the end along with two helicopters from Solent and Portland to search an area between Selsey and the Isle of Wight.
The search was suspended at 11.30pm after nothing was found, and will not be resumed unless more information comes to light.
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