Father's Day call-out as lifeboat crews scrambled in early hours to incident on East Durham coast
Sunderland Coastguard Rescue Team and Hartlepool Coastguard Rescue Team were called out shortly before 3am on June 20 to assist Durham Constabulary with a search for the missing person in the Horden and Easington areas.
Hartlepool lifeboats were also launched to assist emergency services with the incident.
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Hide AdCoastguard officers carried out searches of cliff tops and beaches in the area with nothing found.
A spokesperson for Sunderland Coastguard said: “As we were returning to station some distance inland, we came across the missing person who was safe and well, we waited with them and handed them into the care of the police.”
Hartlepool RNLI said its inshore lifeboat 'Solihull' launched at 3.40am and the all weather lifeboat 'Betty Huntbatch' launched at 4.15am to commence a search of the shoreline.
Both boats were eventually stood down by the Coastguard at 5.40am and returned to the Ferry Road boathouse at 6.00am and were refuelled and made ready for service by 6.30am.
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Hide AdHartlepool RNLI Coxswain Robbie Maiden said: “Once again great teamwork from the volunteer crew and station officials allowed us to go to sea quickly in the early hours and work alongside our neighbours at Sunderland RNLI and the other emergency services during the incident which has ended with a satisfactory result that allowed us all to return home safely to enjoy Fathers Day with our families.”
In all coastal emergencies, dial 999 and ask for the coastguard.