Emergency staff mobilised in Seaton Sluice after suspected hoax call

Emergency services at the scene in Seaton Sluice

Emergency services at the scene in Seaton Sluice

A MASSIVE search involving around 40 emergency services personnel was conducted at a Northumberland harbour following a suspected hoax call.

Professionals and volunteers from various services carried out an extensive search at the harbour at Seaton Sluice on Saturday afternoon following a 999 call made from a mobile phone.

Northumbria Police is carrying out inquiries to try to trace the caller.

One of the services which attended last night said the malicious call had "wasted their time and resources".

The call was made expressing concern for a male in the water in the harbour near the King's Arms pub, requesting either police or the ambulance service, at shortly before 4pm.

A search was carried out of the area involving staff from the police force – which deployed a helicopter, North East Ambulance Service – which sent its Hazardous Area Response Team, and Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, which dispatched three crews from West Hartford alongside its swift water rescue team from Pegswood.

Also searching were eight volunteers from Tynemouth Volunteer Life Brigade (TVLB), Blyth Coastguard Rescue Team, RNLI beach lifeguards who travelled on jet skis from Whitley Bay and volunteer lifeguards from Blyth.

No evidence was found of any man in difficulty in the water and attempts to phone the number from which the 999 call was made went straight to voicemail. This and the fact the harbour was busy yet only one report of the supposed casualty had been made led searchers to conclude the call had been a hoax.

The search and subsequent debrief took around an hour. Captain Peter Lilley of the TVLB said the cost of the incident would be "thousands of pounds".

He said it had taken up the time of people who could have been dealing with real emergencies, not just those in attendance but others in control rooms.

"We all go there with the best of intentions, it is always demoralising when you get something like this happening, particularly with us being volunteers but it affects all the emergency services as well. It is never pleasing."

A police spokeswoman said: "At 3.50pm yesterday afternoon, police received a report of concern for a man in the water near Seaton Sluice.

"A search was carried out in the area, however no-one was located."

A fire service spokesman said: "The call came to us saying there was possibly a male in the water in the harbour at Seaton Sluice. We mobilised accordingly and it turned out to be a hoax call."

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