A DRUNK woman sparked a major sea and land search after threatening to drown herself - but she was found sitting in her flat.
The drama began on Thursday night (July 10) when she phoned a friend saying she was going into the sea west of Worthing Pier.
The coastguard was contacted and both Shoreham lifeboats were launched to search for her in the water.
Meanwhile volunteer coastguards scoured the beach along with police officers.
After a hour of searching for the woman in the choppy waters, police officers found her drunk sitting in her flat.
Shoreham lifeboat operations manager Chris Bunby said: "While our lifeboats were out searching for her, there could have been a real emergency.
"It costs a lot of money everytime we launch and our crews are volunteers who give up a lot of time."
RNLI divisional press officer Tim Ash said: "Hoax calls are not a good use of any organisation's time or money so inevitably we would discourage anyone from giving false information about a casualty at sea.
"However, the RNLI must treat each call out as genuine and, until we are confident that there is no risk to human life, that is what we will continue to do."
-------------------------------------
Click here to go back to Shoreham news.Click here to go back to Worthing news.Where are you? Add your pin to the Herald's international readers' map by clicking here.Email the Herald: letters@shorehamherald.co.ukThe full article contains 249 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
