Spiderman balloon causes major search and rescue operation in Sunderland

A Spiderman balloon sparked a major alert off the coast of Sunderland yesterday.

The coastguard, lifeboats and rescue helicopter were called out after somebody spotted what looked like a person in trouble at Ryhope Dene.

Here’s what the RNLI had to say:

“On arrival Coastguard officers spoke to the first informant who pointed out the object some distance out to sea. Using binoculars they managed to identify the object as a Spiderman balloon. The balloon was recovered by the lifeboat to prevent any further callouts.

The incident was a false alarm with good intent and the person did the right thing to call us to confirm no one was in danger."