Major search for two missing people in sea off Yorkshire coast

A major search is underway for two people who have gone missing in the sea off the Yorkshire coast.

Officials were first alerted to reports of people in difficulty in the water near Withernsea at 3.10pm on Friday.

HM Coastguard said it had deployed a search and rescue helicopter and a fixed-wing aircraft to the scene on England's east coast.

The rescue operation has also called in local coastguard and RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) rescue teams, Yorkshire Ambulance Service, an air ambulance, Humberside Police and Humberside Fire and Rescue.

A statement from Humberside Fire said: "We're currently attending an incident in Withernsea.

"There are emergency service vehicles around the Central Promenade area. Please avoid this area if possible and take extra care as emergency vehicles are moving in the area."

Temperatures in the seaside town are forecast to drop to freezing overnight.

Earlier, East Riding of Yorkshire council confirmed a severe weather protocol was in place due to the cold.

Hornsea Inshore Rescue, a local independent group of volunteers, earlier said the treacherous conditions had stopped it from launching.

"Called out, unable to launch the lifeboat due to horrendous conditions and 3 metre waves breaking on our slipway which would knock the tractor and trailer sideways off the ramp," it said in a statement on social media this afternoon.

In a post yesterday, the group said it had called off a New Year's Day public swim because "the sea conditions were just not suitable today for us to condone anyone entering the water".

Last year a container ship collided with an oil tanker about 10 miles offshore from Withernsea, spewing jet fuel and plastic pellets into the sea.

Yesterday in Brighton on the south coast a 51-year-old man died after getting into difficulty in the water.

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