A Police helicopter has been carrying out fresh searches of Burnham-On-Sea’s coastline for a man who went missing after entering the sea to try and save a woman and a dog.
The helicopter – which has thermal imaging cameras – has been scouring the shoreline from Brean Down to Burnham-On-Sea plus the river estuaries of the Parrett and Brue and Stert Island. Further searches are planned today (Wednesday).
A Police spokesman told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “Police searches are continuing around coastal areas. We continue to keep the man’s family updated and our thoughts are with them at this especially difficult time. The man remains missing.”
While the maritime search was scaled back at the end of Monday’s search, Coastguards say it will restart when any new information is received.
Coastguards, Police, RNLI lifeboats and BARB Search & Rescue have spent many hours searching the caostline since Sunday.
The man was last seen in the water near Burnham jetty at around 4pm on Sunday, sparking a major sea search. Eyewitnesses said he entered the sea to try and save a woman and her dog in the sea next to the jetty. The woman was helped to safety but the man remained in the water.
A Burnham Coastguard spokesman said: “As a lot of you will be aware, we have been dealing with a large scale incident. Our team has been at the heart of the coordination, planning and searching alongside Senior Coastal Operations Officers, Coastal Operations Area Commanders and our Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre team.”
“Utilising multiple coastguard teams, Coastguard and Police helicopters, BARB Hovercraft and Lifeboats from two stations. We would like to thank all the local community for the support shown and generosity from local businesses helping to keep everyone fed and watered. We are truly blessed with a caring community.”
Both BARB and Burnham RNLI have also thanked the community for their support and donations of supplies.
A BARB Search & Rescue spokesperson said: “BARB’s volunteers crews have conducted land searches and hovercraft searches alongside our colleagues tasked in a large scale search and rescue operation since Sunday afternoon.”
“Sadly although there isn’t any further information available at this time, our thoughts are with everyone involved, and we want to express our deep gratitude to the kind-hearted community that donated food and hot drinks for all of the crews involved on Sunday and during Monday. It is greatly appreciated.”
