Coastguard, PSNI: Full air-land-sea search operation draws total blank

A full land sea and air rescue operation which was launched in the Portstewart area early this morning has drawn a blank, with no distressed parties found.
By Philip Bradfield
Published 16th Aug 2020, 11:11 BST
Updated 17th Aug 2020, 21:55 BST
A full sea Land and Air took place at the Bar Mouth Portstewart at 0200 hours on Sunday morning. A red flare was reportedly seen by numerous members of the public Photo: MCAULEY MULTIMEDIAA full sea Land and Air took place at the Bar Mouth Portstewart at 0200 hours on Sunday morning. A red flare was reportedly seen by numerous members of the public Photo: MCAULEY MULTIMEDIA
A full sea Land and Air took place at the Bar Mouth Portstewart at 0200 hours on Sunday morning. A red flare was reportedly seen by numerous members of the public Photo: MCAULEY MULTIMEDIA

A full land sea and air rescue operation which was launched in the Portstewart area early this morning has drawn a blank, with no distressed parties found.

A Coastguard spokeswoman said the operation was launched after reports of a red flare being seen.

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The Coleraine Coastguard team and Portrush Lifeboat both launched and the PSNI helicopter were also involved, being seen around 2am carrying out an extensive search of the area.

The Coastguard later believed that the alert may have been caused by a lantern.

On Friday a woman was rescued by Coastguard helicopter at Ballintoy Harbour.

The Coastguard said she had suffered injuries after falling in an area not accessible to ambulance.

It is not believed her injuries were life threatening.

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On last week the Coastguard reported that it had dealt with a record number of incidents along the UK coasts.

On Saturday August 8 it dealt with 340 individual incidents across the whole of the UK – the highest number of call-outs in a single day for well over four years.

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Related topics:PSNINorthern Ireland