A 999 call that dispatched numerous emergency services ended with the caller and the victim ‘safe in bed’.

Kingsbridge police, the coastguard, Salcombe RNLI, Hope Cove Lifeboat and the NPAS police helicopter all responded to a potentially tragic incident - only to find that the caller and the victim were ‘eventually located in bed’.

At 2.40am on Tuesday morning, the police received a 999 call from an intoxicated holidaymaker to say that his sister, who was also very drunk, had fallen into the water at Salcombe. According to police, the caller was hysterical and it ‘was difficult to obtain information from over the phone’.

Numerous units were dispatched to the scene, but the caller could not be located.

Coastguard were alerted, who dispatched ground units to the scene. The RNLI and Hope Cove lifeboats were launched, and the NPAS police helicopter also assisted in the search.

The caller’s phone was going straight to voicemail and when the police attempted to obtain the his location from the mobile provider it could not assist them.

Emergency services were genuinely worried that the male might also have entered the water to rescue his sister.

After finding no trace of the two, the search was called off later that morning.

Extensive inquiries were made with hotels and holiday cottages and the caller and his sister were both located safe and well in their beds.

The caller stated that he was ‘very sorry, and didn’t have a signal to inform [emergency services] that everyone was safe’.

The police said they’d given the male ‘suitable advice’ and suggested that he makes a suitable donation to the RNLI.

Dave Dancox, press officer for Salcombe RNLI said: “All calls are treated the same. We don’t consider it a waste of time, we consider it a false alarm with good intent and are happy the outcome was a good one rather than the opposite.”