Search for teen swept out to sea in Aberdeenshire

PA

A teenage boy is believed to have been swept out to sea in Aberdeenshire and a day-long search has been called off for the night, the Press Association reported.

Reece Sweeney, 16, was in the water at Banff Bay with two friends but vanished and was apparently swept away by a wave.

The coastguard, RNLI Lifeboats, an Air/Sea Rescue Helicopter and Grampian Police Underwater Search Team were part of the search but there was no trace of the missing teenager.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said a call was made to the ambulance service at around 2.30am on Saturday about somebody being in the water and needing help.

The emergency call was forwarded to the Aberdeen Coastguard and teams from Buckie, Portsoy, Banff, Gardenstown and the Moray Coastguard sector manager were sent to carry out a shoreline search.

A rescue helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth and the Macduff and Buckie RNLI lifeboats were also involved.

Aberdeen Coastguard said his chances of survival were decreasing so long after his disappearance, the BBC reported.

Watch manager Steve Quinn at Aberdeen Coastguard told the BBC: 'It's not a very big area, Banff Bay is quite enclosed by Macduff on one side and Banff on the other.

'The river is flowing out to sea and the tide has been taking anything into the sea to the east, so it's quite a small, contained area. It has been very, very exhaustively searched so far.

'We don't normally have any problems in this river, as where it enters the bay it's got wide sandy beaches so it's quite a benign part of the coast really,' he added.

Hayley Morden, a watch officer at Aberdeen Coastguard said: 'The two friends are safe and well, but unfortunately we have not yet found the missing man.'

There will be further searches carried out by HM Coastguard and Grampian Police on Sunday morning.

Sign up to our weekly newsletterFollow us on TwitterBecome a fan on Facebook