Two nine-year-old girls were found safe and well by police after going missing from their homes.

The girls sparked a major manhunt after vanishing from their homes.

Sussex Police scrambled the force helicopter to scour the River Arun and specialist investigations officers were also called in after the girls were reported missing yesterday.

Detectives and neighbourhood watch volunteers joined uniformed officers in the hunt.

But they were found safe and well within minutes of one another in Littlehampton town centre at 1.30pm yesterday.

One of the girls lived in Littlehampton and it is believed the other travelled down from her home in London to meet with her friend.

Officers were last night questioning the children about what they had been doing.

The family of the Littlehampton youngster reported her missing at 8am and inquiries revealed her friend had also gone missing overnight.

Chief Inspector Russ Whitfield, divisional commander for Worthing who led the operation, said: "This was another intense police operation that we have had to conduct in a matter of days.

"It is a credit to the officers that once again, when we are faced with an incident like this, we were able to pull together to ensure the safety of those who are most vulnerable.

"As well as all the officers who took part in the search, we were joined by volunteers from the neighbourhood watch search team."

Officers did not enact Sussex's Child Rescue Alert system, set up in the wake of the Sarah Payne abduction.

A press spokeswoman said the search did not meet the criteria for relaying appeals via local television radio and text messaging.