AN elderly woman who had gone missing was found in a distressed state in the sea at Whitley Bay beach on Thursday.

Members of the Tynemouth Volunteer Lifeguard Brigade were called to the scene after reports of the woman in distress.

As headed towards the area where the woman had been spotted, officers from Northumbria Police reached the casualty and confirmed that they had been looking for her for the past hour after she had been reported as missing.

Brigade members checked the casualty over but found that she appeared to have no injuries and had started to warm up after being in the sea.

With an ambulance crew on scene to give a further check of the casualty, the Brigade was stood down and returned to station.