A body has been found at a West Wight beauty spot in the search for pensioner Celia Vosper from Freshwater, who went missing on Tuesday afternoon.
Celia had been reported missing from her home off the High Street on Tuesday and was last seen at around 14:30 that afternoon.
A large-scale search was subsequently launched, as darkness fell, after enquiries by Police earlier in the day failed to locate the vulnerable 77-year-old.
Coastguard Rescue Teams from The Needles and Ventnor were joined by the Coastguard helicopter and Yarmouth RNLI’s All Weather Lifeboat in searching the area around Fort Victoria. 2 fire appliances from Newport were also drafted in.
A short while later WightSAR were deployed to Golden Hill Fort, as were firefighters, and later Coastguards moved on to Tennyson Down. However, the search was temporarily halted overnight into Wednesday as weather conditions deteriorated.
After an appeal for information was published, it’s understood a potential sighting of Celia on Alum Bay New Road at around 19:30 on Tuesday evening was reported to the Police.
Coastguards and Yarmouth RNLI were back out at around 11:00 on Wednesday morning with a focus on The Needles and the Alum Bay area. A Police drone was also launched after low-lying fog had cleared.
It’s understood Celia’s body was located by the Police drone at Alum Bay at around lunchtime yesterday, leading to the area being cordoned off for a time. Access to the Needles Battery was also prevented.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary has now confirmed that a body has been found in the search for Celia.
A spokesperson for the force has said that although formal identification has not been completed, Celia’s family have been made aware and are being supported by officers at this time.
Her death is not being treated as suspicious and a file is being prepared for the coroner.
That’s so so sad 🙁
Oh no, poor lady, such terribly sad news.
Sending a big hug to her family x
Poor lady rip.Too little too late.All rushing to help once she was missing but probably had no help beforehand that could have prevented this
How insensitive making a comment like that, you have no idea of her or her familys circumstances or thought of any family or friends who might read your comment.
My thoughts and prayers to her family and friends and services who found her.
Hense the word ‘probably’ means there’s a chance, wasn’t an accusation.
So sad, I hope she is now at peace and condolences to family and friends.
God has another angel sat by his side, look over us all Celia , lots of love to your family. KIND THOUGHTS ONLY to Celia’s family during this sad time .
Thanks go to all the services involved in trying to locate Celia. We appreciate your dedication, many of you voluntarily. Who knows, we may need you at some point in our life. Good to know you are here for us all.
So they stopped looking as the weather turned bad? Not being funny but surely they should have tried to continue to find her as she was probably most at need during this time. I’m sure there’s a Health and safety reason why they stopped but still. My thoughts and prayers are with her and her family and I thank the efforts of the emergency services in trying to locate her in time.