A light aircraft has crashed into the English Channel on its way from London to Le Touquet in France, the coastguard has said.
The single-engine plane had one person on board when it came down within UK waters, and a cross-Channel search and rescue operation has been launched which is being coordinated by the British emergency services.
The site of the crash is estimated to be about 15 miles off the coast at Dungeness, Kent, occurring at around 2.30pm on Sunday afternoon.
A spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: “We had reports that an aircraft was overdue. It was an American-registered aircraft with one person on board.”
“The search has been involving a French helicopter and it has been searching for two hours. That will have to return shortly and that will be replaced by a search and rescue helicopter from RAF Wattisham in Suffolk.
“The Dungeness lifeboat is en route and we believe the Calais lifeboat is also involved. The search is ongoing at the moment to find the pilot. We still have about six hours of daylight left.”