British woman missing after hiring boat on paradise island

Usa today news

11 hours ago

The woman left the island of Formentera on a motor boat and did not return home

SPANISH police and coastguards have launched a major search operation for a British woman who vanished after hiring a boat on the paradise island of Formentera. The alarm was raised on Wednesday evening when she failed to return a 15-foot motor boat she had hired earlier in the day. The 39-year-old woman has been named locally as Mary Gavin. A Spanish Coastguard search and rescue helicopter called Helimer 222 took part in an operation launched yesterday with two coastguard vessels. One was mobilised from its base in Ibiza with the other instructed to comb the coastline off Formentera, the smallest of the inhabited Balearic Islands. Civil Guard officers are understood to be conducting a land search. The air, land and sea operation was expected to continue from first light today, although officials could not be reached early this morning for comment. The company the missing Brit hired the boat from has been named locally as Helix Charter Formentera. The vessel she is said to have left Formentera port La Salina in on Wednesday afternoon ?for a quick boat ride? has been described as a cream-coloured Quicksilver 475 Axess with a Mercury outboard motor. — The woman left the island of Formentera on a motor boat and did not return home

A search is underway for a British woman who failed to return after taking a motor boat out from the Balearic island of Formentera.

The 39-year-old’s friends raised the alarm after she did not reappear as scheduled after hiring the 15-foot vessel.

A Spanish coastguard helicopter and local vessels are searching for her at sea.

Local police are also looking for her on the island, it’s understood.

Detectives are considering ‘all possibilities’ as the woman’s plans were ‘a complete unknown’, according to local media reports.

Formentera is the smallest and most southerly of the Balearic archipelago.

With a population of around 11,000, it’s known for its unspoiled beaches with crystal blue waters that remain considerably less busy than neighbouring Ibiza.

Reachable by ferry from Ibiza, Formentera is popular as a day-trip destination but is also home to a small community of expats.

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