The volunteer crew of Littlehampton lifeboat were paged at 11:44pm on Saturday 10 September by the coastguard after the alarm being raised, reporting there was a female in the sea.
The RNLI station’s D Class lifeboat Ray of Hope launched ten minutes later and headed out to the reported location, in the sea, opposite Littlehampton Leisure Centre on Sea Road. On arrival at the scene the crew commenced the search close to the water’s edge, along with a police helicopter also in attendance. At nine minutes passed midnight a request was made for Littlehampton’s Atlantic 85 lifeboat Renée Sherman to launch and assist in a more extensive search for the reported casualty.
Following further information from the coastguard both lifeboats undertook a wider search of the area. At 1.39am on Sunday 11 September it was decided that the search had proved inconclusive and was therefore terminated. Both lifeboats were stood down and they returned to the lifeboat station where they were made ready for service.”
