Search at Crosby beach called off for boy, 14, missing after swimming with friends in River Mersey

The search for a teenager who went missing while swimming with friends in the River Mersey has been called off.

Merseyside Police launched a search for the 14-year-old boy after he became separated from a group of friends on Sunday evening while swimming near the Seaforth radar tower, off Crosby Beach, Waterloo.

The coastguard, police, fire and rescue, helicopters and ambulance services were all involved in the operation overnight, after emergency services were notified of the boy’s disappearance shortly after 7pm.

On Monday, a path leading to the tower was sealed off while a rescue boat was sent into the river near the tower, once used to follow ships into the shipping channel.

Shortly after midday on Monday, it was confirmed that the Coast Guard had called off the search.

A spokesperson for Her Majesty’s Coastguard said: “The search for a person reported missing in the Crosby Beach area on 30 June was suspended, pending further information, at approximately 10am on 1 July.”

The coastguard was seen leaving the scene by local journalists just before 11am, while some police presence remained. The search has since been called off.

An RNLI spokesperson said: “A number of RNLI lifeboats were involved in a multi-agency search for a missing person in the Crosby Beach area.

“This morning (1st July) the RNLI inshore lifeboat from New Brighton and the all-weather lifeboat from Lytham St Annes were mobilised at 05:15 and 05:30.

“This morning’s search follows that of yesterday evening (June 30) when, at around 6:41 p.m., the New Brighton inshore lifeboat was requested to launch to conduct a search, followed by the all-weather lifeboat from the Hoylake at 7:50 p.m. »