The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is assessing whether drones could help in search and rescue missions across the UK. A new project is investigating if the devices could also boost missions by visiting rescue sites ahead of air, sea or land-based recovery teams.

This would provide a full picture of the situation and develop the appropriate response.

The MCA will assess the use of drones for regular and routine flights and demonstration flights will be carried out using several unmanned aerial system drones. Last year, the MCA's civilian search and rescue helicopters responded to an average of seven missions a day, saving more than 1,600 people. Overall, the MCA co-ordinated more than 22,000 incidents and rescued more than 7,000 people across the year