AN air-and-sea search has been suspended by British and French rescuers investigating a light aircraft crash in the English Channel, Coastguards say.
Fading light on Sunday evening prompted authorities to call off attempts to find the missing pilot and a decision will be taken on Saturday morning about the next course of action.
The American-registered, single-engined plane was carrying one person when it came down in the middle of the Channel, about 24km off Dungeness in Kent.
The alarm was raised at 2.30pm local time after the Dover Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre (MRCC) was told the plane had failed to arrive at Le Touquet airport after leaving Blackbushe airport in Hampshire.
A cross-Channel search and rescue operation led by UK maritime authorities was launched, involving French and British helicopters, the Dungeness RNLI lifeboat and three French vessels.
Wreckage was later found by the French search and rescue helicopter and on Sunday evening teams worked against the clock to try to find the missing pilot before the light faded.
A Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) spokesman said the incident happened 6.5km inside UK waters.
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