Coastguards have said they will not resume the search for a schoolboy swept out to sea on the East Sussex coast
The search for missing schoolboy Dylan Alkins has been called off less than 24 hours after he was swept out to sea.
The 14-year-old had been swimming with friends off Newhaven’s West Beach when he was swept away by the current yesterday afternoon.
Coastguards said they would not restart the search for the missing boy unless they received new information from police.
The Newhaven RNLI lifeboat and coastguard helicopter took part in searches for the boy yesterday, but were later stood down because of the poor weather conditions.
A member of the lifeboat crew suffered bruising and the boat itself was damaged by “exceptionally large waves” during the operation on Sunday.
Newhaven lifeboat press officer Alan Novis told the BBC that the crew “battled some very challenging conditions, doing everything possible with our coastguard colleagues on the beaches and in the air to try and locate the missing boy”.
He added it was a “very distressing incident” and the crew’s thoughts were with the boy’s family at this time.
Dylan, who was swept out to sea at about 4.15pm on Sunday, was last seen playing in the surf about 30ft from the shore.
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