Afternoon:
14°c
Girl, 10, feared drowned as air and sea search goes on
Peter Dominiczak17.08.09
The search resumed today for a 10-year-old girl who went missing and is feared drowned in the sea at Clacton.
The girl got into difficulty yesterday afternoon while swimming with a friend, also 10, only yards from the shore.
A man swam out to help them and saved the friend but could not find the other girl after she disappeared under the water.
The missing girl, said to be from Buckinghamshire, was visiting the beach with her friend's family.
A police helicopter was used as part of a major air and sea search and members of the public scoured the shoreline until night fell. Police said they contacted the missing girl's mother at her home and she travelled to meet search teams last night.
The rescuer and the girl he saved were taken to Clacton hospital and treated for the effects of swallowing water. The man was released but the girl and her mother, both suffering from shock, were kept in overnight.
A spokesman for Essex police, said: "A multi-agency search operation is under way off the Clacton coast."
A spokesman for the coastguard said they had begun searching again at first light, adding: "With so many units on the scene we hope that we will find her."
