A woman sparked a three-hour air, ground and sea search today after she spotted a beautiful sunrise and ran to a beach to photograph it.

The woman ran out wearing her nightie and dressing gown and clutching a camera after she got up for breakfast and noticed a beautiful dawn.

But concerned onlookers who saw her dash towards the sea outside Aldingham, Cumbria, feared the worst and called police.

Officers scrambled a large scale response involving police dog handlers, the coastguard, Bay Search and Rescue, air support, and mountain rescue.

They posted appeals on Twitter and Facebook

Eventually – after hours of searches – the woman’s red-faced partner contacted police to explain that she was just keen to catch the sunrise on camera.

He sent a tweet saying: “hmm – suspect that might be my partner – she was out taking pictures in her dressing gown. Have rung police!”

Cumbria Police said the woman had been spotted running towards the sea at Aldingham at 8.01am today.

As well as launching the search the force also posted the appeal to its 12,000 followers on Twitter and over 9,000 ‘likes’ on Facebook.

The appeal said: “At 8.01am this morning, Thursday 7 February, police were called by a member of the public who reported seeing a white woman, aged in her mid-30s, around 5ft 4 with short dark hair and of a slim build run across the coastal road which runs from Ulverston to Barrow.

“She was wearing a dressing gown and slippers. The sighting was close to the Newbiggin the Aldingham areas.

“Police patrols have been deployed to the area to try to find the woman and check on her welfare.

“Checks have been made with local residential homes however no reports of missing people have been made to police.

“Due to the fact that there is nothing at the location other than a beach, and the fact that no vehicles or dogs were seen near the area, police are keen to establish the circumstances and check on her welfare.

“There may be a completely innocent explanation for this – she may have been running after a dog for example.

“However, we are concerned based on the information that came through this morning.

“Receiving a report like this is unusual so we are doing everything we can to make sure that she is safe and well.”

But by 11am the major search was called off after a man contacted officers to say that the woman in question was his partner and she had only been taking photographs.

Insp Kevin Spedding of Cumbria Police said: “Thankfully, the woman we were looking for was safe and well and made contact with us to let us know the circumstances of this morning’s sighting.

“There was a perfectly innocent explanation for her actions this morning however we are grateful to the members of the public who alerted us to their concerns.

“We would much rather be called out to a false alarm than have people be afraid to contact us with any concerns – as we could miss an opportunity to help.

“This incident also shows how effective social networking can be.

“We were instantly able to communicate with a wide section of the local community who follow us on Facebook and Twitter.”

 – UK Mirror