At 23.30 on Thursday 28th November, we were requested by Devon & Cornwall Police to assist with the search for a high-risk missing person in the Gwithian area.

Team members searched throughout the night alongside Maritime and Coastguard Agency and Police colleagues. We were stood down at 3.30 to continue with the search in daylight.

At 09.00 we were re-tasked to continue with the search, covering a large number of rural and coastal areas. We worked again with several Coastguard teams from across Cornwall, as well as a Mountain Rescue Search Dogs England team and colleagues from East Cornwall Search & Rescue Team. The Coastguard Helicopter was also clearing areas alongside Police Search Dogs. The conditions were hard going, with heavy rain throughout the day. On the Friday we were stood down by the Police at 14.00.

We were requested to continue with the search on the Saturday, where additional team members searched an expanded area for over 6 hours. As darkness approached, we were stood down at 16.30, pending further Police investigations.

A big thank you to Rapid Relief Team UK for providing refreshments to the search technicians throughout the weekend.

Over the three days, 17 volunteers from West Cornwall SAR attended the search, plus one search dog team. We provided over 147 hours of service.

Devon and Cornwall Police issued a statement a few days later, following a body being located outside of our search areas.

Our thoughts go out to their family and friends, as well as everyone involved in the search.

Images taken by our volunteer Call-out Members

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All of our team members are volunteers. We’re available 24/7, 365 days of the year to assist the emergency services to search for missing, vulnerable and injured people across West Cornwall.

We rely on public donations to operate.

To support us and leave a donation, visit our Support Us page on our website >>

We are members of Mountain Rescue England and Wales and the British Cave Rescue Council – BCRC.