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A major air and sea search is underway after a small yacht beached at Brighstone with its engine running and headsail up, but without any crew on board.
The emergency was raised when the vessel was found at 5:15pm on Saturday.
It is believed the yacht had set sail from Poole on Saturday morning with one person aboard, according to a coastguard spokesperson.
The search is involving both the Portland and Lee-on-Solent-based Coastguard helicopters, Yarmouth RNLI lifeboat, two Freshwater Inshore lifeboats and the Mudeford lifeboat from Dorset.
Three coastguard teams from Lymington, the Needles and Southbourne are also searching for any signs of the skipper, and police are carrying out investigations from land.
The extensive search has been carried out around Christchurch Bay, Dorset, and the Needles and Compton Bay areas.
The coastguard said sadly nothing had yet been found.
Image shows the search pattern of Yarmouth RNLI's lifeboat at approximately 9pm (second blue flag shows position of Solent Coastguard's rescue helicopter also searching)
Image: www.marinetraffic.com
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