Coastguard search for missing person ends in Penzance rocks

A cold fret sat over Penzance on Monday night, thick enough to blur the streetlights along the seafront. Somewhere in it, a high-risk missing person needed to be found, and a lot of people were about to give up their night to do it.

A search that jumped along the coast

Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team were tasked at 11.50pm on Monday to support Devon and Cornwall Police with the search, logged as the team’s 60th tasking of the year. The volunteers arrived quickly at Wherrytown and began working the coast from there towards Tolcarne.

Partway through, new information from police shifted the whole operation. The focus switched to the coastal path opposite Tesco and the beach around it, sending the search team back out to cover fresh ground in the fog and the dark.

Dogs, a drone, and a lifeboat crew on standby

A police dog unit and a police drone unit joined the coastguard team to search the foreshore. Penzance Oscar, coordinating the response, called in extra support from the Penlee Inshore Lifeboat to start searching the water around the area.

The lifeboat crew were just about to launch when one of the search team spotted something in the rock armour lining the shore.

Found, checked over, and taken for care

With the casualty located, the coastguard team carried out an assessment on the spot and called for an ambulance. They stretchered the casualty across the rocks to the waiting vehicle, where paramedics from South Western Ambulance Service took over for onward care.

It brought a fast-moving night to a close for everyone involved, from the volunteer coastguard rescue team pulling on their boots at 11.50pm to the police dog and drone units and the ambulance crew who saw it through to the end.

The team thanked Devon and Cornwall Police and South Western Ambulance Service for their support on the night, and Penlee Lifeboat, who had mustered their crew and were ready to launch before being stood down once the casualty was found.

📷Credit: Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team