25 November - Major Sea search for missing people who leapt from the Cherbourg to Poole Ferry .

Poole’s all-weather RNLI lifeboat was launched at 1am on Wednesday 25 November when a report came through that people had jumped from the Cherbourg to Poole ferry as it was coming into Poole.

The weather conditions were horrendous, with squalls and gusts of winds up to 50 knots gusting.The Swanage RNLI all-weather lifeboat also launched and an extensive search of Poole Bay began. Both boats worked together alongside the search and rescue helicopter from Lee-on-the-Solent, which searched using FLIR, their forward-looking infra-red cameras. When the weather eased slightly, the Poole RNLI inshore lifeboat was launched to search the inside of the harbour.

Information is sketchy about a man who boarded the chain ferry at the entrance to the harbour. He was extremely wet and it was obvious he had been in the water. This alerted the suspicions of the chain ferry operators who called the Police. The man, believed at the time to be Russian, was taken to Poole Hospital for treatment and for further questioning with an interpreter. It was then discovered that there were possibly three others in the water.
It’s understood that the mystery man was on the Barfleur ferry with another man and two women, possibly stowed away on a lorry. It’s understood that he leapt when he saw lights on the shoreline possibly in the Studland area. The lifeboats searched Poole Bay and the harbour are all night, along with coastguard rescue volunteers and other volunteer crew from Poole lifeboat station who searched the shoreline from the entrance to the harbour to Bournemouth Pier.

The conditions out in the bay were horrendous. Volunteer Coxswain Jonathan Clark said: ‘It was blowing hard and sea conditions were appalling with squalls up to 50 knots blowing through.’

The lifeboats were stood down at 5am and the volunteer crew returned back to the station and their beds after 6am.
A further search of the shoreline areas was made later on Wednesday by the search and rescue helicopter and coastguard rescue volunteers but nothing was found.