Withernsea seek for lacking particular person referred to as off after two die attempting to avoid wasting lady
The search for a third person missing in the Withernsea tragedy that has already taken two lives, has been called off after a teenage girl was ‘washed away’ on Friday
The search for a third person missing off the East Yorkshire coast has been called off. Two people died after rushing to help when a teenage girl got “washed away.”
Humberside Police said they were called to Central Promenade in Withernsea at 3.15pm on Friday. HM Coastguard confirmed at 4pm today (January 3) that the search has now been suspended.
A 67-year-old man was pulled unconscious from the water and died at the scene, the force said, while a second person’s body was recovered on Friday evening.
Paul Whitehead, owner of Castle Cafe on the promenade, told The Telegraph that his staff had tried to help the girl, including one who threw her a life ring.
“Around 3pm a girl, around 15 years old, went down the Pier Towers concrete steps and the seas are so rough, she got washed away,” he told the newspaper.
“Her parents then went down to try and help her, as did one of my staff, who grabbed a life ring. The young girl had hold of the ring but was hit by a wave and couldn’t hold on and went under.
“Four local men who were on the promenade then also went down to help the parents.”
Karen Higgs, 66, told the paper the girl was swept out by the waves. “I was by the cafe and this woman was running up the front towards the pier towers, shouting ‘she’s in the water, she’s in the water’,” Ms Higgs told the newspaper.
“I looked and I went across and there was somebody in the water… going in and out with the waves.
“Someone threw a safety ring in for her to catch. She was going out as the ring went in and it went and she never tried to catch it. We were all shouting at her to catch it, catch it. She just didn’t.”
A rescue helicopter, coastguard rescue teams from Withernsea, Hornsea and Hull, an RNLI inshore lifeboat from Withernsea and an all-weather lifeboat from Bridlington, and Hornsea Inshore Rescue were also among those who attended the scene, the coastguard said.
On Friday, local charity Hornsea Inshore Rescue said on Facebook that it had been called out to Withernsea, but had been “unable to launch the lifeboat due to horrendous conditions and three-metre waves”.
A fresh update from the Coastguard at 4pm stated: “After resuming shoreline searches in Withernsea for one missing person today, 3 January, HM Coastguard stood down its extensive search effort this afternoon.”
