Update, 11:30am, 15 March: Police and the Coast Guard are continuing to search for missing teen Shania Beckford.
Police officers had spotted Shania, 15, on Seven Mile Beach on Monday night, when they found two other teenage girls who had also been reported missing.
While the two other teens were taken into custody and returned home, Shania ran off, prompting a land and sea search. Since then, police said, they have received reports of sightings of Shania in the West Bay area.
This includes a sighting of the girl around 8:30am Tuesday in the vicinity of Seven Mile Public Beach.
Police thanked the public for reporting sightings of the missing girl, and warned that anyone who harbours or conceals a young person is guilty of an offence and is liable, on conviction, to being fined $2,000 and to imprisonment for three months.
Officers are continuing to encourage Shania to attend the nearest police station or make contact to establish that she is safe and well.
Original story: Police have launched a land-and-sea search for a 15-year-old girl who fled from officers after they located her and two other teens on Seven Mile Beach.
RCIPS officers continue to search for Shania Beckford, 15, on Tuesday.
She, along with two other teens, were reported missing on Tuesday, 7 March.
Police on Monday had issued a public appeal to help find the girls.
According to an RCIPS statement, shortly before 10:40pm Monday, officers responded to a report that the three missing teens had been seen on Seven Mile Public Beach, around the former Calico Jack’s site.
“Officers in the area attended the location and Jahsmine and Jemma were taken into custody, however, Shania evaded the officers and ran south along the beach, with officers subsequently losing sight of her,” police said.
The RCIPS said, “out of an abundance of caution”, officers immediately conducted searches along the shoreline and in the water, with the police helicopter and the Coast Guard being called in to assist.
Shania was not found, and police said searches continued on Monday morning “in an effort to locate her and ensure her well-being”.
The other two girls have been returned safely, police said.
“Officers are strongly encouraging Shania to attend the nearest police station or make contact to establish that she is safe and well,” the RCIPS said.
Police urged any member of the public who sees Shania or is aware of her whereabouts to contact 911, or the West Bay Police Station at 949-3999.
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