Two men sparked a scare when they went missing at sea in an unsafe dinghy.

Coastguard teams spent four hours looking for the men yesterday afternoon.

They had been seen paddling the 14ft dinghy with two planks of wood, near the inshore lifeboat station at Eastbourne.

The Eastbourne inshore lifeboat team, Eastbourne and Bexhill Coastguards and a Coastguard aircraft, launched a search.

The dinghy was eventually found shortly after 6pm, near the Spray Water Sports Centre in Royal Parade, Eastbourne.

Dover Coastguard watch assistant Alexandra Hunt said the men must have dragged the boat up the beach and left it.

She said: "We haven't located the men but they're obviously ashore. We're hoping they're going to come forward and ask, 'Where's our dinghy?'

"It was irresponsible to go out in such an unseaworthy boat."