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Whitstable RNLI Launch to Missing Child

Lifeboats News Release

A report of a 5-year old missing child at Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey saw the Whitstable B-Class lifeboat Lewisco launch ‘on service’ for the 16th time this year on Saturday .

Whitstable lifeboat returns to station after the call to a missing child at Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey.

RNLI/Chris Davey

Whitstable lifeboat returns to station after the call to a missing child at Leysdown, Isle of Sheppey.
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Launching at 5.18pm the lifeboat joined the search which also involved the Sheppey and Medway coastguard rescue teams and the coastguard helicopter from Lydd.

However at 5.49 the lifeboat was ‘stood down’ after the child had been located safe on shore and the lifeboat returned to station.


Notes to editors

  • Whitstable RNLI Lifeboat Station was established in 1963 by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and is one of 237 lifeboat stations around the shores of the UK and Ireland. The volunteer crews provide a maritime search and rescue service for the Kent coast. They cover the area between the Kingsferry Bridge on the Swale, in the west, around the south-eastern side of Sheppey and along the coast through Whitstable and Herne Bay to Reculver in the east and outwards into the Thames Estuary.

  • The station is equipped with an Atlantic 85 lifeboat named Lewisco, purchased through a bequest of a Miss Lewis of London who passed away in 2006.

  • She is what is known as a rigid inflatable inshore lifeboat, the boat’s rigid hull being topped by an inflatable sponson. She carries a crew of four people.

  • RNLI media contacts

  • Chris Davey, Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer, Whitstable Lifeboat Station.
    07741 012004/     [email protected]

  • Julie Rainey - Regional Communications Lead : 07827 358256

  • Hatti Mellor - Regional Communications Manager :07724 801305

For enquiries outside normal business hours, contact the RNLI duty press officer on 01202 336789






Key facts about the RNLI

The RNLI is the charity that saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,700 lives.

Learn more about the RNLI

For more information please visit the RNLI website or Facebook, X, TikTok and YouTube. News releases, videos and photos are available on the News Centre.

Contacting the RNLI - public enquiries

Members of the public may contact the RNLI on 0300 300 9990 (UK) or 1800 991802 (Ireland) or by email.

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