A MASSIVE rescue operation was launched in the Channel after a ferry passenger spotted what she thought was a man overboard.

Four cross-Channel ferries, Dover lifeboat, a tanker, a French naval helicopter and a coastguard aircraft helped in the search on Friday afternoon.

After looking for two hours in an area nine miles off the coast of Dover, a head count on the P&O ferry, Pride of Dover, revealed no one was missing and the hunt was called off.

It is thought that the passenger may have mistaken a pair of seals for a person.

Dover Coastguard’s senior watch manager Pete Legg said: "It was a good search and it all came together very well. A head count is quite difficult on a ferry and took some time."