The search for a 15-year-old boy missing in the sea off Marloes Sands has been called off after two days, with nothing found.
HM Coastguard was alerted at about 3.30pm on Sunday to reports that three people were in difficulty in the water at the beach in Pembrokeshire. Two got themselves out. The teenager did not.
The search was suspended at 7.30pm on Monday. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said that despite an extensive search “sadly, no sign of the missing person was found”, and that there were no plans to resume unless new information came in.
Angle RNLI‘s all-weather lifeboat was launched within minutes of the first 999 calls and made for Marloes at speed, searching the bay before HM Coastguard set out a series of formal search patterns along the coast.
By Sunday evening the operation included lifeboats from Tenby and St Davids, coastguard rescue teams from Dale, Broad Haven, St Davids and Llansteffan, a coastguard helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, the Welsh Ambulance Service, and Dyfed-Powys Police with its marine unit.
Three Milford Haven Port Authority pilot vessels and several commercial and leisure boats also joined in, the lifeboat station said.
Crews were stood down at around midnight and the Angle lifeboat was refuelled and ready for service again by 2am. Six hours later it was launched again.
Monday’s search stretched along the coast from St Ann’s Head to Broad Haven North and took in the waters around Skomer and Skokholm, with Little Haven’s inshore lifeboat, a coastguard drone team and harbour patrol boats alongside.
After a crew change in the late afternoon, the Angle lifeboat worked a low-water search of the shoreline around Marloes Sands with the drone team before being stood down at 7.30pm.
In total the Angle volunteers spent 22 hours at sea. The station said its crew had “worked tirelessly” and “shown immense dedication over the past two days”, and thanked Milford Haven Coastguard for “their fantastic coordination and support” through what it called “a lengthy and tiring incident”.
“Our thoughts are with the swimmer’s family and friends at this difficult time,” it added.
Marloes Sands, on the Dale peninsula facing Skokholm, is one of the county’s best-known beaches, a National Trust site with no lifeguard cover.
Anyone who sees someone in trouble in the water should call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.
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