‘UFO flying saucer hovering over sea off Hastings’ mystery solved

The lights were seen at around 5.15pm, a mile or so out over the millpond sea near Hastings Pier, against a backdrop of a purple band from the sunset on the horizon.

A jogger running along the promenade spotted the lights and stopped to take a photo. She was soon joined by a couple of passers-by who wanted to know what the lights were. They also pulled out their phones and zoomed in to take photos. A few other people joined them and one of them - a man in his 30s - said, “It’s not a flying saucer is it?” He appeared to be serious.

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They all stared at the hovering lights for several minutes, with suggestions including a sea rescue, a tall yacht with its mast lit up, a helicopter, or perhaps “some sort of naval exercise”.

The mystery was cleared up later that night when Hastings RNLI crew tweeted a video of them taking part in a training exercise a few hours earlier. It shows the crew standing on the Hastings lifeboat with an HM Coastguard helicopter hovering overhead, its red and amber lights flashing away.

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One person, an amateur naturalist whose Twitter handle is @arnoldtortoise, replied: “Aha, was wondering what was going on when you went past. Thought something awful must have happened. Glad to know it was a training exercise. Looked impressive from terra firma.”

Another person pointed out that it is HM Coastguard’s 200th birthday tomorrow (January 15).