A major search is taking place for a missing 14-year-old boy who had been swimming with friends in the River Mersey on Sunday evening.
Police said the emergency services received a report of concern at 7pm on Sunday for the safety of the boy, who had been swimming near the derelict Seaforth radar tower, off Crosby beach.
The boy’s friends came out of the river but had become separated with the 14-year-old, police said. He has not been seen since.
The stretch of Crosby beach near the radar tower was on Monday cordoned off as the search continued. It has involved the coastguard, the RNLI, police, fire and rescue units, the ambulance service and a helicopter.
Merseyside police said in a statement: “The incident is ongoing and Crosby beach near to the radar tower has been cordoned off.
“We are asking people to avoid the area at this time, whilst the emergency services, including the coastguard and North West Ambulance Service, continue searching for the missing boy.”
Sefton council said: “Police are asking people to avoid the area at this time, whilst the emergency services, including the coastguard and North West Ambulance Service, continue searching for the missing boy.”
Members of the public approaching the beach were on Monday being turned away by police officers.
Reporters at the scene said a RNLI lifeboat and other crews appeared to be focusing their search near the tower.
The now derelict 30-metre high Seaforth radar tower was put up in the 1960s to monitor Mersey shipping channels but the need for it has long been overtaken by new technologies.
Nearby also is the artist Antony Gormley’s Another Place installation on Crosby beach, consisting of 100 “iron men” spread across 3km of the foreshore and stretching almost 1km out to sea.
