Boats launched : Atlantic 85 and D-Class
Date : Sunday 7 July
Launched at : 13:18
Returned at : 14:40
Weather : Hot and sunny with a SW Force 2 wind.
Sunday 7 July brought crowds to the W Wittering beach and early in the afternoon an 8 year old boy went missing and was still not found after an hour. Both Hayling lifeboats were launched and went to the scene but Selsey Coastguards found the young man. As the lifeboats turned to go however, a 3 year old was reported as missing and so the two boats started a search along the shore. The helmsman on the Atlantic 85 spotted a child answering the description on the beach and so the smaller D-Class lifeboat went to investigate and a crewmember confirmed that this was the young child. The crew member stayed with him until a coastguard arrived to take him safely to his parents. Whilst this was happening another missing child incident was reported but they were quickly found and so the lifeboats turned for home again. En-route back however they found two teenagers in a small plastic boat already half a mile offshore and being taken out further by the tide. The crew took them onboard and returned them and their boat back to the shore.
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