A Russian-registered cargo ship has lost 1,500 tonnes of timber in rough seas off the Sussex coast.

It happened in a major English Channel shipping lane 14 miles off Newhaven, East Sussex, at 0815 GMT.

The vessel, which is being escorted to Portsmouth by a coastguard tug, is not thought to be at "imminent risk".

A Coastguard spokeswoman said the wood could be heading towards Dungeness in Kent, not the East Sussex coast at Newhaven as previously thought.