Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the Newhaven Coastguard and a rescue helicopter from Lidd were called out at around 6pm, alongside Newhaven and Brighton RNLI. A spokesperson for the MCA said a verbal Mayday call was made somewhere off the coast between Brighton and Newhaven. The emergency services scoured the coast between Newhaven breakwater and Brighton Palace Pier, but the search was stood down at 8.15pm. The MCA spokesperson said: " A search was made but nothing was found so they were all stood down."