A Christmas Day swim event has ended in tragedy after two men, aged in their 40s and 60s, were lost at sea.
Emergency services were called at 10.25am today, 25 December, to Budleigh Salterton beach after a group of swimmers got into difficulty in the water.
A major search and rescue operation was launched by HM Coastguard, with three helicopters, a plane and three RNLI lifeboats deployed.
Search and rescue helicopters were sent from Newquay, St Athan and Lee-on-Solent, alongside a fixed wing aircraft from Humberside.
Lifeboats were launched from Exmouth, Teignmouth and Torbay, alongside Coastguard rescue teams operating on land from Exmouth and Beer.
Paramedics treated two people at the scene and took another to the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Sadly, two men, aged in their 40s and 60s, were not located during the search, and their families have been informed of the developments.
Conditions were so severe that the Teignmouth lifeboat was abandoned, later recovered to Torbay, with the volunteer crew returned by road.
People were seen entering the water throughout the search and rescue operation despite the sea conditions.
Previously, a yellow weather warning for strong winds across the South West had been issued, which led to some Christmas Day swims being cancelled.
Despite this, hundreds of people entered the water today at Budleigh Salterton.
The way you get your news is changing.
To keep seeing our stories, you now must add us as a preferred source. It’s free and takes seconds.
Extensive area searches continued throughout the day in efforts to locate the missing men before being stood down at 5pm today.
Anyone with information which may assist police, and who has not already spoken to officers, is asked to call 101 or report online, quoting log 191 of 25/12/25.
Detective Superintendent Hayley Costar said:
“Today, emergency services have been responding to a truly tragic incident in Budleigh Salterton.
“Our thoughts remain firmly with the families and friends of the two men who are currently missing and to all who may have witnessed and be impacted by the incident.
“The local community will have seen a significant amount of emergency services in the area throughout the day as extensive enquiries have been ongoing. As dark falls, a number of these searches have been stood down, with some police enquiries on land continuing this evening.
“There have been weather warnings in place this week and a number of official and un-official swims have already been cancelled. While there are no official warnings in place for tomorrow, we urge anyone with plans to go swimming in the sea on Boxing Day not to.”
Sign up for free below to get notified of all the latest breaking news from Plymouth Plus.
