A 14-year-old boy feared dead after being swept into the sea in rough weather has been named locally as Dylan Alkins.

The teenager disappeared while playing in the surf at West Beach in Newhaven, East Sussex, at about 4.15pm yesterday.

Rescue teams, including a Coastguard helicopter and an RNLI lifeboat, scoured the area in what were described as "atrocious conditions" with poor visibility.

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Last night, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said the operation had now become one of search and recovery.

Officials from the Newhaven lifeboat said that at 9.45pm all teams searching for the missing boy had been stood down for the night by the Coastguard.

An MCA spokeswoman said rescue teams had struggled in difficult conditions, and that police were with the boy's family who were "distraught".