A large-scale search operation was launched on Sunday, September 29, after clothes were found abandoned on Aldwick Beach, raising fears of a missing swimmer.
The UK Coastguard initiated the search and called upon multiple agencies, including Sussex Police and local lifeboat crews, to assist. The Selsey RNLI all-weather lifeboat (ALB) was dispatched at 2:44pm, along with units from Selsey, Littlehampton, and Hayling. The search focused on locating a missing female who was thought to have entered the water.
As the Selsey lifeboat headed towards the scene, the crew received coordinates to perform a creeping line ahead search pattern, methodically combing the waters for any sign of the missing person. Meanwhile, Littlehampton lifeboat launched to carry out a shoreline search, and the Coastguard helicopter Rescue 175 scoured the area from above.
The weather conditions at the time included southerly winds of force 6 to 7, with moderate seas but good visibility, making it possible for the extensive search to be carried out effectively. Six crew members from Selsey RNLI also searched the beaches from the Coastguard station to Pagham Harbour.
At 4:07pm, the Bembridge lifeboat was launched and directed to an area southwest of Selsey Bill to expand the search.
After hours of coordinated effort by sea, land, and air, the search was called off at 5:16pm when the UK Coastguards confirmed that the missing female had been found safe and well inland, away from the water.
