(Image: RNLI/Provided)
A Coastguard helicopter was spotted over Hartlepool during a multi-agency emergency response this morning (Friday, October 23).
The helicopter, along with coastguard rescue teams from Hartlepool and Seaham and two RNLI lifeboats, was deployed after a distress beacon signal was detected near Hartlepool at about 9.40am.
RNLI boats at Hartlepool during the search (Image: RNLI)
Steve Pounder, lifeboat operations manager at Hartlepool RNLI, said: "The volunteer crew members conducted a thorough search of the area in difficult conditions.
"They then safely returned back to the Ferry Road lifeboat station at 11.30am where the boats were refuelled and made ready for service by 11.55am."
Both the inshore and all-weather lifeboats launched at 10am to search an area outside the marina alongside the Coastguard helicopter from Humberside.
The search was stood down at 11.25am after the beacon was traced to a location on land and believed to also have been activated inland.