SEA rescues by coastguards in and around the Solent rocketed by nearly 30 per cent last year.

New statistics revealed the number of incidents off a stretch of coastline running from Beachy Head in East Sussex to Barton on Sea rose from 1,215 to 1,546 between 2002 and 2003.

The number of people assisted or rescued increased from 2,050 to 2,185 - or 6.5 per cent.

However, the number of fatalities fell 13.1 per cent - down from 38 to 33.

Lee-on-the-Solent coastguard district operations manager Bob Woodwark blamed last summer's heatwave and the fact that people enjoyed more leisure time for the rise in the numbers of people getting into difficulty.

He said: "The 200 full and part-time staff in Solent district are sadly disappointed that in a year when we devoted more time, finance and effort than ever before to accident prevention and education, our casualty figures show a big increase over last year.

"We can only assume that this increase was due largely to people having more available resources, more leisure time, and to the long, hot summer last year."

However, Mr Woodwark vowed: "Despite this, our prevention and education efforts will continue unabated during 2004."

He continued: "On the plus side, we had to deal with a slightly reduced number of deaths during 2003."

The figures were published by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

A sea rescue incident is recorded every time the Solent district coastguards send out a helicopter, lifeboat or coastal search team.

These range from people falling overboard from boats or floating out to sea on inflatable lilos, to sailors whose vessels run out of fuel or children who wander off from their families on a crowded beach.