Emergency services in Torbay, Devon, conducted a nine-hour search after a man was reported to have entered the sea during Storm Austen, but no trace of him was found.
CCTV footage appeared to show a man leaving a hotel in shorts and a T-shirt at lunchtime on Friday before appearing to enter the sea near Goodrington. He did not return, prompting a major multi-agency search operation.
Search operation details
Solent Coastguard tasked Torbay RNLI to assist in searching the area. The lifeboat station said the operation lasted nine hours, with the all-weather lifeboat at sea for more than eight hours during the storm. Crews launched at around 6.10pm, and a shoreline search was carried out.
Exmouth RNLI also responded, sending its Shannon lifeboat at 6.35pm to search the water, while a drone unit and coastguard rescue teams checked the shore. During the operation, winds ranged from force five to eight, the lifeboat station said.
Challenging conditions and additional rescue
"Storm Austen's presence meant the sea state and weather conditions were challenging, severely hampering the ability to spot the casualty in or near the water, and explaining why so many search assets were called upon," Torbay RNLI said.
At the same time, Torbay RNLI received a radio call for help from a fisherman whose small boat suffered an engine failure. The vessel, tucked into the cliffs near London Bridge sheltering from the weather, was towed into the harbour.
Torbay RNLI's inshore lifeboat carried out a second shoreline search before returning to refuel. As conditions deteriorated, the ILB was stood down around 9.10pm.
Search continues and concludes
Searches continued through the night to Hopes Nose, the Mussel Farm, and further offshore before concluding at around 2am. The ALB returned to the station by around 3.10am, reported DevonLive.
Torbay RNLI said: "Later that morning, at 11:45am, Solent Coastguard requested a daylight search at the Roundham. Our volunteer Crew were paged at 11:56am assembled at 12:01pm and launched at 12:10pm. Their search included putting two members ashore to explore the rocks at Roundham. Conditions were still not easy with driving rain, strong West to Northwest winds and turbulent seas."
Nobody was found, and the crew were stood down by Solent, returning to station by 2:48pm, where they made the lifeboat ready for service before heading home. Torbay RNLI added: "Whilst the two shouts did not lead to a conclusive outcome, the response of our volunteer Crew, along with the sustained presence of in-station support throughout, including our DLAs and attending Crew's family (who turned up to provide hot teas and bacon sarnies to returning crew members), was commendably impressive, over what has been a memorable passing-by of Storm Austen."
