A HOT tub is drifting in the English Channel.

It came loose shortly after 5.30pm last night as lifeboat crews were trying to rescue a sinking houseboat it was being towed by.

The Newhaven crew were called out just before 5pm after a tug travelling towards the Thames towing two 22 metre houseboats reported one, that was towing a hot tub, was sinking.

When the crew arrived at the scene seven miles from Newhaven Harbour at 5.12pm it was clear the houseboat could not be saved and it sank at 5.36pm, an RNLI spokesman said.

 

The hot tub came loose but was too large for the lifeboat to recover and drifted off into the sea. The crew told the Dover Coastguard of its last known position.

The crew collected debris floating on the water before leaving the scene around 6.30pm. The location of the wreck and debris has been marked and passed to the coastguard and a navigation warning has been issued.