UPDATED: MAJOR MULTI AGENCY SEARCH UNDERWAY IN THE WEST WIGHT

Concerns for the welfare of an individual have sparked a multi-agency search in the West Wight this evening (Sunday). HM Coastguard was alerted to the ongoing incident in the Freshwater Bay area at around 17:00, quickly deploying teams from Needles and Ventnor. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary had been alerted to the incident earlier in the afternoon. Search efforts initially focused on the ground, honing in on the Tennyson Down area in particular. But as efforts continue the assistance of Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 175 (CG 175) was requested on 2 separate occasions. At around 20:00 Freshwater Independent Lifeboat (FILB) was launched to scour the coast between Freshwater and Compton. No information as to the individual the search is centred around has been released. Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary has been contacted for a statement, but no update is expected before tomorrow morning (Monday). UPDATE @ 22:00 – The search has been stood down with CG 175 returning to base and FILB returning to its station.