- The woman was last seen walking into the sea at around 3am Christmas Eve
- The coastguard and the RNLI launched a major search for the woman
- The incident happened near Sandown Pier on the Isle of Wight
- Police have not received any reports of a missing person since the incident
The sighting of a mystery woman walking into the freezing sea at 3am on Christmas eve remained a riddle last night as baffled police and coastguards admitted no-one had so far been reported missing.
A member of the public reported seeing a woman defiantly walking into the water near a pier on the Isle of Wight and then disappearing.
A coastguard spokesman said that that officers were sure that the incident happened but had found no trace of the victim despite extensive searches by lifeboats and the crew of the coastguard helicopter.
The coast guard and the RNLI have been looking for a woman who reportedly walked into the sea during the early hours of Christmas day near Sandown Pier on the Isle of Wight
Police have not received any reports of a missing person despite claims a woman walked into the sea on Christmas eve. Searchers are yet to recover a body from the sea
The Martime and Coastguard Agency said they believe reports a women did enter the sea
Emergency services rushed to the scene after the concerned passer-by reported that a woman had entered the water near the local beauty spot at Sandown and vanished from sight.
A coastguard helicopter, two lifeboat crews and two search teams on land were deployed to find the person and scoured the area surrounding the pier throughout the night.
However, officers were left perplexed when no-one had been found at mid-morning on Sunday and the search was finally called off.
A spokesman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: ‘There was a person who entered the water near Sandown Pier in Sandown on the Isle of Wight at 3am on Sunday morning. Quite a long search went on throughout the night.
‘The search was called off at about mid morning. A coastguard helicopter, two lifeboats and two coastguard rescue teams were used, and they completely saturated the area.
‘It was a member of the public who saw the person entering the water. We believe that this definitely did happen, but nothing was found.
‘We don’t really know what happened, whether the person got back out of the water or if something a bit more sinister happened, but we know that they disappeared in the water.’