Body found in sea identified as missing girl The body was discovered by a police search team this afternoon. Our thoughts are with Hollie's family at this difficult time. St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School pupil Hollie had gone to south Wales with her mother Sarah for a holiday. Police said the Scottish family chose Barry Island because they have relatives living in the area. The teenager was last seen getting into difficulty at around 2.45pm on Sunday off the coast of Whitmore Bay which is a popular destination for sun-seekers. However, officers said emergency crews were not alerted to the incident until an hour after she was last seen, something Coastguards said they were "dumbfounded by." Once the alarm had been raised, life-savers sprang into action, calling on the skills and local knowledge of RNLI crews as well as deploying a helicopter in the area. But 24 hours later, Coastguards said they had exhausted their efforts to find Hollie and formally handed the investigation over to police. On Tuesday, Mr Lamerton said officers were being "pragmatic" in their search efforts. "We have 40 officers working on this, including specialist search teams trained to work underwater and the force's helicopter," he said at the time. As you can imagine, her family are devastated - both those visiting from Glasgow and those living here in Barry. Hollie has visited the area before, but at this point there is nothing to suggest there is anyone else involved. News of the discovery of a body in the hunt for Hollie was described as a "nightmare scenario" on Wednesday. Steffan Wiliam, a Barry resident and Plaid Cymru councillor at the Vale of Glamorgan Council, said: "This is awful, awful news - the nightmare scenario we have all been worrying about. This is the most awful news we could have had. Our thoughts go out to the family at this awful time. The pain and grief they must be feeling now is terrible. He said that, from the location where police said the body was found, it appeared the teenager had gone outside the bay. Currents outside the relative protection of Whitmore Bay will carry an object up or down the coastline and eventually out to sea. "It seems that she will have been outside the bay and the currents will have just carried her away," Mr Wiliam said. As soon as you are outside the bay, you will be carried off in one direction or another. Inside the bay there is a circular current. St Thomas Aquinas headteacher Andrew McSorley said: "It was a terrible shock to learn of Hollie's death. She was due to start fourth year in August and everyone at the school who knew her will be shocked and saddened by this awful news. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family as they deal with their devastating loss. Scores of tributes have also been paid via social network sites such as Facebook. One site user wrote: "This is so sad. The summer should have been a happy time for her and her family.