Man 'vanishes' into sea during Storm Austen as nine-hour search ends with no trace

Man 'vanishes' into sea during Storm Austen as nine-hour search ends with no trace CCTV footage showed a man leaving a hotel in shorts and a T-shirt before appearing to enter the sea in Torbay sparking a major search and rescue operation A huge nine-hour search operation took place for a man who is reported to have entered the sea in the storm. Emergency services searched the sea in Torbay, Devon, for nine hours after the man disappeared during Storm Austen but nobody was located. RNLI Torbay were joined by the coastguard and police in combing the area near Goodrington after CCTV footage appeared to show a man leaving a hotel in shorts and a T-shirt at lunchtime on Friday. He did not return and Solent Coastguard tasked Torbay RNLI to aid in searching the area. The operation lasted nine hours, the lifeboat station said, and the all-weather lifeboat was at sea for more than eight hours during Storm Austen on Friday. Crews launched at around 6.10pm and a shoreline search was carried out. Exmouth RNLI also responded to the incident and sent out it's Shannon lifeboat at 6.35pm to search the water while a drone unit and coastguard rescue teams checked the shore. During the multi-agency operation, winds had picked up and ranged from force five to eight, the lifeboat station said. "Storm Austen’s presence meant the sea state and weather conditions were challenging, severely hampering the ability to spot the casualty in or near the water, and explaining why so many search assets were called upon," Torbay RNLI said. At the same time, Torbay RNLI received a radio call for help from a fisherman whose small fishing boat suffered an engine failure. The vessel was tucked into the cliffs near London Bridge, sheltering from the weather and was towed into the harbour. Torbay RNLI's inshore lifeboat carried out a second shoreline search before returning to refuel. As Storm Austen grew more powerful and conditions deteriorated, the ILB was stood down around 9.10pm. Searches continued through the night to Hopes Nose, the Mussel Farm and further offshore before concluding at around 2am. The ALB returned to the station by around 3.10am, reported DevonLive. Torbay RNLI said: "Later that morning, at 11:45am, Solent Coastguard requested a daylight search at the Roundham. Our volunteer Crew were paged at 11:56am assembled at 12:01pm and launched at 12:10pm. Their search included putting two members ashore to explore the rocks at Roundham. Conditions were still not easy with driving rain, strong West to Northwest winds and turbulent seas. "Nobody was found and the crew were stood down by Solent returning to station by 2:48pm where they made the lifeboat ready for service before heading home to well-deserved lunch. "Whilst the two shouts did not lead to a conclusive outcome, the response of our volunteer Crew, along with the sustained presence of in-station support throughout, including our DLAs and attending Crew’s family (who turned up to provide hot teas and bacon sarnies to returning crew members), was commendably impressive, over what has been a memorable passing-by of Storm Austen."