THREE ‘vulnerable’ missing people were found safe and well this weekend, Lancashire poice said.

A police helicopter was called out to help with the search for two missing women on Friday night.

Duty Inspector Conrad Tapp said Lancashire police received a call at around 10.30pm to report the pair missing from the Burnley Lane area of Accrington.

The National Police Air Service mobilised a helicopter from its base in Warton, near Preston, and discovered the women 25 minutes later in woodland off Manchester Road, Hapton.

DI Tapp said that the two women, aged 18 and 23, had a history of mental illness and self-harm.

He said: “The helicopter was up as we were concerned for the safety of the two females reported missing from home.

“Fortunately we found both of them safe and well.”

Earlier on Friday, an elderly man who went missing from his Blackburn home was found ‘safe and well’ at Royal Blackburn Hospital

Fears were growing for 80-year-old Calogero Carlo Marchese, who suffers from Alzhiemer’s, after he went almost 24 hours without his medication.

He had been missing since around 8.15pm on Thursday, but was discovered in the hospital on Friday afternoon after checking in under a false name.

DI Andy Winter, of Lancashire police, said that Mr Marchese, of Lincoln Road, had been spotted by a friend.