Emergency services spent two hours looking for a child in distress before realising it was a hoax call.
On Saturday evening (May 3) emergency services were called to reports of a 12-year-old child stuck in the mud at the end of Southport Pier. HM Coastguard Crosby, who had been heading home from an incident in Ainsdale, diverted back to the pier.
Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, and North West Ambulance Service along with the HM Coastguard also attended the scene. However, after a two-hour search by the coastguard, the call was deemed to be a hoax.
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A post on the HM Coastguard Southport Facebook page said: "Coastguard teams searched the initial area of concern immediately on arrival, and with no casualty located, expanded the search outwards covering a large area very quickly with the help of the Lifeboat’s quad bikes, and Coastguard vehicles with additional police on board, plus a drone and more coastguard officers and police using binoculars up on the sea wall."
Emergency services then deemed that the call was a hoax by a person who had visited Southport earlier in the day. The hoax call has now been condemned as it stopped all four emergency services from responding to "genuine incidents".
The post said: "This hoax stopped personnel from all four emergency services being available for genuine incidents. This included 14 Coastguard Rescue Officers, three fire and rescue crews (including a SAR team), an ambulance and crew, a rapid response paramedic, approximately ten police officers (and their HQ support), and Southport Lifeboat’s quad bike team plus their support."
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