The bodies of two friends were pulled from the sea off the coast of Brighton after a dinghy was spotted drifting in the water.
Emergency services spent nine hours scouring the waters on Monday after an inflatable dinghy was seen drifting out at sea early in the afternoon.
The huge search and rescue operation came to an end after the body of a man was recovered from the English Channel just after 5pm on Monday.
He has not yet been identified but he is believed to be linked to the unoccupied green dinghy.
Police said the dinghy contained “some personal effects” appearing to belong to someone living in Sussex.
As police sought to establish his identity it became apparent that his friend was also missing.
Emergency searches continued on Monday evening until 11pm and resumed on Tuesday morning at 6am.
Another body was spotted by the coastguard helicopter at 8.45am on Tuesday.
The body has not been formally identified but is believed to be that of the missing man, police said. His next of kin have been informed.
HM Coastguard dealt with a record 340 individual incidents across the whole of the UK on Saturday, its highest amount of call-outs in a single day for over four years.
Additional reporting by PA Media.
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