The SARA land search team was called out to an area of the Forest of Dean, just south of Coleford, late on Thursday evening, to support Gloucestershire Constabulary searching for a high risk missing person.  Teams searched until the early hours Friday, and then resumed on Friday morning.  

Team members from SARA Stations at Beachley, Tewkesbury and Cotswolds attended, along with colleagues from Avon & Somerset Search and Rescue, Longtown Mountain Rescue Team, Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group, Midlands Cave Rescue Organisation, and Search and Rescue Dog Association South Wales.

Very sadly, not long after midday on Friday, a body was located by one of the search teams. Our thoughts are very much with the family and friends of the young man concerned.  

Many thanks to the staff at Puzzlewood for their hospitality during this difficult search.

We received a request for assistance during the early hours of this morning to support Gwent Police with an ongoing incident. We immediately launched SARA lifeboat 14 and navigated through shallow waters and darkness, making way to the incident location. As the lifeboat was standing by on scene, a person entered the water from height.The crew rescued the person from the water and provided first aid treatment before handing over to HM Coastguard Chepstow shore based medical teams.  We wish the person involved a speedy recovery.

Around 10.30pm we were called out to Stroud, to support Gloucestershire Constabulary searching for a high risk missing lady.Land Search teams from our SARA stations at Tewkesbury, Cotswolds and Beachley responded, along with a search dog team from Search and Rescue Dog Association South Wales.  They conducted detailed searches in the Stroud area, in hilly and wooded terrain in the dark of the night.  In the early hours one of the SARA parties located the missing lady safe and well, and she was handed into the care of the relevant agencies.  A great result!Many thanks to all who responded and to Topps Tiles for the use of their facilities.

The Land Search team was called out again just after lunchtime, to the Coleford area, to support Gloucestershire Police with a search for a missing man.Team members from SARA Stations at Beachley, Tewkesbury and Cotswolds responded, along with colleagues from Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group and Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service Coleford. They undertook detailed searches of areas to west of Coleford in very testing, hot conditions. Teams were stood down at nightfall with nothing having been found, with the intention of continuing the following (Wednesday) morning. However, the missing man was found safe later in the evening out of our search area. Grateful thanks to Andy & Maureen, owners of Greenacres Campsite for allowing us to use the site as the search base and for generously providing cold drinks for the searchers. Also to Whitecliff Off Road Centre for their help in providing a forward base.

Our land search team was called out this morning, to support Gloucestershire Police with the search for a high risk missing man in the area of Leckhampton Hill, near Cheltenham. Team members from SARA stations at Beachley, Tewkesbury, Cotswolds and Wyre Forest were called out, along with colleagues from Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group and a search dog & handler from Search and Rescue Dog Association (South Wales).Thankfully, as the first search parties were deploying from the RV, the missing man was located safe elsewhere by a member of the public.

At 00:28 this morning, our land search and water rescue teams were called to support Gwent Police and Gloucestershire Constabulary with an incident near Sedbury. Crews from the SARA stations at Beachley, Tewkesbury, Upton and Cotswolds were tasked. Thankfully the missing person was quickly spotted by a SARA team member and safely taken into the care of the police. The teams were stood down and crew could return home.

Just after midnight last night Maritime and Coastguard Agency paged us to support Avon and Somerset Police and South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust with an incident near Aust Rock. SARA Lifeboat 1 was launched and held position under the M48 Severn Bridge ready to assist. The incident was resolved successfully and SARA1 returned to station.