Sea crash pilot search called off

Rescuers have decided not to resume a search for the missing pilot of a light aircraft that crashed in the English Channel, coastguards said.

An air and sea search was mobilised by British and French rescuers after the American-registered single-engine plane, with one person on board, came down in the middle of the Channel yesterday afternoon, about 15 miles off Dungeness in Kent.

Wreckage was later found by the French search and rescue helicopter, and last night teams worked against the clock to try to find the missing pilot before suspending the search after light faded.

"Having taken the advice of the RAF as well as the French rescue authorities, we have decided that we won't be resuming the search," a spokesman for Dover Coastguard said today.

A French search and rescue helicopter has found wreckage around 15 miles off Dungeness, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency has said.

The spokesman added: "The search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham has now joined in with the search, along with the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat, and three French vessels."

British and French emergency teams are responding to reports a light aircraft has crashed into the English Channel.The American-registered plane carrying one person on board came down about 15 miles off Dungeness in Kent at around 2.30pm.

A cross-Channel search and rescue operation has been launched involving both English and French teams, including a French helicopter and the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat.

The alarm was raised after the single-engine light aircraft, which was heading from London to Le Touquet, was overdue, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said

Dungeness Lifeboat Station is responding to reports of a small light aircraft, which is believed to have gone down in water off the coast of Dungeness, Kent.