Persons in distress launches Invergordon Lifeboat
The Invergordon RNLI lifeboat “Douglas Aikman Smith” launched this evening to reports of 2 persons in a boat thought to be in distress.
The volunteer crew of 7 launched the all-weather Trent class Lifeboat at 5.07pm, and made best speed towards the Cromarty Bridge to commence the search for the 2 persons reported.
With no further information at the time from Aberdeen Coastguard, the crew maintained a constant lookout for persons matching what was reported.
As the Lifeboat made her way down the firth, several persons were located further East than given location of between Cromarty Bridge and Dingwall, with confirmation that all was OK, the Lifeboat continued with the search.
On reaching the Bridge, the Lifeboat’s daughter XP Craft was deployed to continue the search West of the bridge, with several possible persons spotted, the crew of 2 made their way to the couple of boats containing 3 fisherman in each, all reporting all OK and in no distress.
Local Coastguard Teams kept a close visual on the XP daughter craft and relayed Radio communications to and from the Lifeboat to the deployed crew.
With all possible casualties located and spoken too, Aberdeen Coastguard were satisfied that the call was a false alarm with good intent and stood all SAR units down.
The Lifeboat and the crew made their way back to Invergordon’s West Harbour and the boat was refueled, and made ready for service by 7:30pm
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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