A lifeboat crew and coastguard rescue officers were called out following the possible sighting of a body in the sea.

On the first call out of the year for the RNLI Lowestoft lifeboat voluntary crew of Patsy Knight, they carried out more than two hours of searches along the sea and shoreline early on Friday morning (January 10).

A lifeboat spokesman said: "The first callout of the year at 2.04am was to a report of a body in the sea in the vicinity of Pakefield Street.

"Lowestoft Lifeboat and HM Coastguard crews searched the shoreline at Pakefield and the South Beach - but after two hours of searching nothing was found and they were stood down soon after 4am."

With HM Coastguard rescue officers from Lowestoft and Southwold involved in the searches, lifeboat coxswain John Fox said: "The original sighting was from a credible source as was seen opposite to the car park in Pakefield Street.

"Visibility was initially poor, as it was raining, but when the weather improved the moon lit up the search area."

The lifeboat and coastguard teams searched the shoreline at Pakefield and then, taking the tide into account, widened their search to the South Beach as far as South Pier.

But after two hours of searching, nothing was found and everyone was stood down just after 4am.