Lifeboats, helicopters and police were searching on Monday for a 14-year-old girl missing at sea off south Wales after she was last seen in difficulty in the water during the sunny weekend weather.
Swansea coast guard said they had received a call at 3.54pm on Sunday as holidaymakers were enjoying the sunshine at Whitmore Bay near Barry.
The call reported that the girl had last been seen an hour earlier, a coast guard spokesman said, adding that the service was “dumbfounded” not to have been informed earlier.
“The incident was reported to us at 1554 but we believe she could have been in trouble in the water up to an hour before then,” said Steve Jones, rescue manager for Swansea coast guard.
“We had a report that a fisherman saw her. We are dumbfounded that something wasn’t said to us earlier and are investigating but our main priority is the search, which is massive.
“We don’t believe that she was that far out in the water. We are going on the assumption that she has not come out of the water. Normally, if she had come out then we would have found her by now.”
The girl is on holiday in the area with her family and was in the water with friends when she began struggling on Sunday.
She was described as about 1.7 metres (five feet seven inches) tall with long black hair and average build. She was last seen wearing a multi-coloured dress.
Anyone with information was urged to contact the coast guard. Police were meanwhile interviewing the girl’s friends and assisting her parents.
Plaid Cymru councillor Steffan Wiliam, who lives on Barry Island, said: “Our stretch of coast has the world’s second highest tidal range, second only to the Bay of Fundy.
“You have to be careful but it is generally very safe, particularly now we have life guards.”
Girl, 14, missing at sea off Wales
