THE coastguard were called to help search for five people drifting out to sea on a dinghy.

Members of the public raised concerns that a small dinghy was rapidly drifting out to sea.

RNLI Eastbourne were requested to launch their inshore lifeboat to locate the group at 7.25pm on Wednesday, July 13.

The volunteer crew located the dinghy and five people on board.

“All persons were found to be safe and well,” a RNLI Eastbourne spokesman said.

“The casualties were given safety advice by lifeboat crew and with coastguards happy, our inshore lifeboat and volunteer crew were stood down and returned to station.”

On Monday, the coastguard were called to help search for six missing people in less than two hours.

RNLI Eastbourne were first tasked with helping search the shoreline near Beachy Head for a missing person, who was eventually found safe and well.

Less than two hours later, the RNLI Eastbourne volunteer crew were paged following reports of five people having been spotted entering the sea near Eastbourne Pier.

A search of the area was conducted, and it was confirmed the group had made it to safely shore.