A barge dumped tonnes of boulders into the sea this morning after capsizing in bad weather off Eastbourne.

The Norwegian vessel, moored two-and-a-half miles off the resort, ended up floating upside down after a night of gale force winds and stormy seas.

Its load of 26,000 tonnes of rocks, to be used for the town's sea defences, was dumped in the water.

Lifeboat crewman Dave Corke said it was possible the barge could sink but enough air remained inside it to keep it afloat this morning.

A lifeboat was launched at 8am from Sovereign Harbour, Eastbourne, to try to right the vessel.

The barge is owned by shipping company Stema and has been used to transport large rocks and boulders for use in the coastal reclamation work.

Mr Corke said: "We can't really say what caused it to capsize but there were some severe gales with winds up to 70mph.

"We recovered propane tanks, timber and debris which could cause problems to small ships at night."

A spokesman for Dover coastguard said Stema were sending staff out to the vessel and expected it to be upright in the next couple of days.