Staithes RNLI in major search for missing girls

The girls, two aged 12 and two aged 5, all from Staithes, had been playing on the beach at Staithes in the early afternoon but after they failed to return home and it was thought they had gone walking on the tidal shoreline below the cliffs, their parents raised the alarm.

Staithes and Runswick RNLI promptly launched at 6.15 pm and began scouring the coastline north of Staithes. HM Coastguard teams and police joined the search but it was called off after the news came that the girls had safely reached Port Mulgrave one and a half miles east of Staithes.

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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.

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