The crew of a dinghy found adrift in the English Channel may have fallen overboard and drowned, coastguards fear.

A search involving an RAF Wattisham helicopter and two lifeboats was called off after a search of the area, two-and-a-half miles off Folkestone, found no survivors.

Coastguard Watch Manager Gordon Wise said: "The search at the moment has been called off, we do not believe that we are going to find anybody at sea now."

The dinghy was spotted off the Kent coast at about 0800 GMT by the crew of the Henrik Kosan, a large liquid petroleum gas carrier anchored nearby.

Drug smugglers

Coastguards who boarded the boat found fuel, radio and navigation equipment, a wet suit and personal belongings on board, but no people.

"It was clear there had been some occupancy in the dinghy recently," the spokesman said.

Mr Wise told the BBC it was possible the dinghy had been used by either asylum seekers or drug smugglers.

Coastguards believe somebody wearing a wetsuit could survive in the sea for hours, but in ordinary clothes they would probably die in a couple of hours.

Search teams are looking for abandoned dinghy trailers and local harbours to see if they can discover where the boat came from.