Volunteers from Teignmouth Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) and Dawlish Coastguard gave up their Christmas Day to attend a multi-agency incident in Budleigh Salterton in which two men are believed to have lost their lives.

Emergency services were tasked by HM Coastguard around 10.50am on Christmas day to assist at Budleigh Salterton after receiving reports of people in difficulty in the water during a festive swim.

The volunteers were involved in the recovery of one person from the water and continued to search throughout the day for two more missing people.

One of the missing has been named as Matthew Upham, a 63-year-old antiques dealer from Budleigh Salterton. The second missing person is believed to be a man in his 40s.

The Coastguard stood down search efforts at 5pm.

Following the shout, Teignmouth Lifeboat was forced to land in Torbay as the conditions were too challenging to return to Teignmouth Lifeboat Station. The ‘Claude and Kath’ returned to its home base on Boxing Day.

Teignmouth RNLI had cancelled its Boxing Day Walk in the Sea earlier in the week due to the forecast weather and sea conditions.

Volunteer crew, fundraisers, water safety advisers and members of Dawlish Coastguard headed down to the seafront on Friday December 26 to ensure the message about the cancellation had reached everyone.

The RNLI thanked wellwishers who donated during the day. Collection buckets generated £804 with an additional £96 donated to the lifeboat station gift shop. A further £58.85 was given by patrons of the Blue Anchor.

‘Despite the bitterly cold weather and gusting easterly winds, it was lovely to see so many friendly faces,’ a spokesperson from Teignmouth RNLI said. ‘Thank you to everyone for heeding the advice yesterday and staying clear of the water,’ the spokesperson added.

Teignmouth RNLI said it was also grateful to those who were supposed to take part in the Walk in the Sea after many donated their entry fees raising more than £900 through the event’s JustGiving page.