ABANDONED kite surf equipment and a pair of Crocs shoes sparked a search by coastguards and a lifeboat crew.

The national maritime operations centre alerted Southbourne Coastguard at 8.37pm last night after the discovery on the shoreline at Avon beach in Christchurch.

A search of the shoreline was carried out by coastguards while a crew from Mudeford RNLI lifeboat conducted a sea search for anyone in difficulties.

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After an hour the owner of the equipment made contact with the coastguard operations centre after a social media request for the owner to make themselves known.

A spokesman for Southbourne Coastguard said: "Fortunately the owner was safe and well and therefore we stood down our search and awaited the owner's friend to arrive in order for him to collect the equipment. At this point we stood down and returned to station."