Given the flat calm conditions and possibility of persons in the water, Solent Coastguard requested that both the B and Y Class boats launch and also tasked rescue helicopter 104 to locate the balloon and survivors.

Mobile Coastguard units and Sussex Police also searched from the shoreline while liaising with the first informant.

Arriving on scene, with excellent visibility, it quickly became apparent that it was unlikely to have been a very large balloon as nothing was visible on the surface.

Approximately 30 minutes into the search a Chinese lantern was seen drifting overhead and with Chinese New Year celebrations under way at a restaurant near the West Pier, an alternative explanation for the tasking was considered.

Sure enough, a few minutes later the lifeboat found the charred remains of a Chinese lantern not far from the position of the reported sighting.

With Solent Coastguard satisfied that what had actually been sighted was a Chinese Lantern, all units where stood down and Brighton Lifeboat returned to station.

A spokesman for Brighton Lifeboat said: "Naturally our first instinct was that this could have been a major incident and it was approached accordingly with all resources at our disposal. Judging distance and scale while looking seaward at night isn't easy and it's perhaps easy to see how this case of mistaken identity could have occurred."

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