A massive rescue operation is underway after a passenger fell from a luxury yacht in the English Channel near Brighton.

A spokesman for the coastguard said: "At 10.19am this morning, HM Coastguard received reports of a person overboard from a vessel off Newhaven. RNLI lifeboats from Shoreham and Newhaven have been sent to search, along with an HM Coastguard Rescue Helicopter, a Coastguard fixed wing aircraft and two nearby vessels in the vicinity."

The man is believed to have fallen from a catamaran near the Rampion Offshore Wind Farm with a woman who was on the boat raising the alarm. The boat is being towed to shore while coastguard and lifeboats search for the missing man.

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