Lifeboat crews called to a report of two people in trouble in the English Channel found a man swimming happily with a playful seal.
Dover Coastguard was alerted after a woman believed she could see one person struggling in the sea and one shouting for help off Cooden Beach in Bexhill, East Sussex.
The Eastbourne and Hastings Royal National Lifeboat Institution responded to the alert at around 8.30am – only to find it was a false alarm.
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