A mystery woman has been spotted walking into the sea in the early hours of Christmas Eve, it has been reported.
At approximately 3am a member of the public claimed to have seen a lady walking into the water and vanishing near a pier on the Isle of Wight.
The coastguard spokesman said they were sure the incident had taken place but so far no-one has been reported missing.
After being unable to make any headway the search, which involved a helicopter, two lifeboat crews and two search teams, was 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.”
