COASTGUARD officials have issued a safety plea after nine children were reported missing on UK beaches in one day.

UK Coastguard has issued advice for parents to keep a close eye on their youngsters at the beach after responding to nine separate missing children reports yesterday.

The scares included two reports of missing children at West Wittering beach, although fortunately all children were found safe and well.

In response to the rise in incidents, many UK Coastguard rescue teams have increased their regular patrols and stayed near the beaches in case of further emergencies.

Dai Jones, duty controller for UK Coastguard, said: “It was a beautiful day and it was very busy.

“We responded to at least nine call-outs for missing children.

“We are urging parents to a keep a close eye on their children when at the beach – thankfully yesterday’s missing children had just wandered off and were located safe and well by the teams.

“We urge parents or guardians to make sure that their children are well supervised at the coast.”

Parents are advised to show their children where the RNLI lifeguard stations are and tell them to head to the stations if they get lost.