Seaton Sluice

Incident Type: Search

In the early hours of Thursday morning, Northumbria Police requested the assistance of ourselves and North of Tyne Mountain Rescue Team in relation to an ongoing search for a high-risk missing person in the Seaton Sluice area.

While police officers were already searching a number of likely routes, Mountain Rescue was asked to assist with planning searches of the heavily vegetated terrain around Holywell Dene and Holywell Pond.

Working alongside the Northumbria Police Initial Missing Person Search Adviser (IMPSA), our Search Adviser assessed the information available and discussed search strategies. Given the increased risks associated with searching dense vegetation in darkness, it was agreed that, if required, Mountain Rescue resources would deploy at first light.

Two of our volunteers prepared to deploy and meet with the IMPSA at Bedlington Police Station to review the available information and prepare search plans. However, before any wider team deployment was required, Northumbria Police advised that the missing person had been located outside the proposed search areas and confirmed that Mountain Rescue resources could stand down.

Thankfully, this incident had a positive outcome, with the missing person located before a full team response was necessary.

The incident involved 4 Team members for 1 hour 5 minutes with 4 members on standby.