A lifeboat was launched to look for a 14-year-old boy reported missing from Hastings beach.

The alarm was raised by the boy's friend after he lost contact with him on the beach in the Rock-a-Nore area near the Old Town.

The Hastings Inshore Lifeboat was launched and a land-based team of coastguards also joined the search.

But the missing boy was found and returned to his family within an hour of being reported missing.

The emergency services were called into action at about 1430 BST on Monday.

The boy was spotted by the lifeboat crew near the Harbour Arm just after 1500 BST and taken back to shore.

A Dover Coastguard spokesman said the tide was quickly coming in and if the boy had been further east he would have been cut off.