A BOAT with five people on board had to be rescued by the coastguard after a distress call.

Eastbourne lifeboat was called to help the 7m vessel at about 1.30pm on Saturday.

The boat had put out a Pan Pan distress call. Pan Pan calls are messages sent by boats in urgent situations.

Several vessels nearby answered the call, and a yacht began to tow the stricken boat towards Sovereign Harbour.

“Once on scene, it was determined that two of the five persons on board were suffering from sea sickness and quite unwell,” an RNLI Eastbourne spokesman said.

“Helmsman Dean Parker made the decision to transfer the two unwell persons to another vessel, along with casualty care trained volunteer crew Jim Edwards, enabling them to get to dry land quickly."

The inshore lifeboat escorted them to the safety of the harbour.

Last week, a kayaker spent 45 minutes in the sea after getting into difficulty while fishing until he was rescued by the coastguard.

The man, who was off Littlehampton, was able to call the HM Coastguard on 999 as he had his phone in a waterproof pouch.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said his kayak began to sink.

Littlehampton Coastguard rescue team and Littlehampton RNLI were sent out to search for the man, who was rescued and taken ashore.