Roger Couch, Lifeboat Operations Manager at New Quay, made a fresh plea to members of the public regarding lights in the night sky after the all-weather lifeboat was called out on a fruitless search late on Tuesday night, August 14th.
The lifeboat was called by the Coastguard at 10.20pm to investigate two reports by members of the public of possible distress flares in a sea area off Aberarth and Tresaith. Coxswain Daniel Potter with a crew of Ben Billingham (Station Mechanic), Rees Tom Jones, Bernard Davies, Tim Harrison, Simon Rigby, Peter Yates and Ellis Jones searched diligently for over two hours until stood down when it was realised that this was a genuine false alarm. This was a first call out for Ellis Jones, the seventeen year old having recently joined the crew.
Roger Couch commented:
"The light observed was likely to be a chinese lantern, many of which are released near our coastline up and down the country and are mistaken for distress flares. I would like people to act responsibly and bear in mind that the fruitless searches which result are very costly to our organisation, a charity which relies entirely on public donations and legacies for its funding. It can also divert us from providing cover for real life maritime emergencies".
Notes to editors
New Quay lifeboat station has been operating since 1864. Today there are over twenty five trained crew members, a Mersey class all weather lifeboat and an inshore rescue craft.
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