THE COAST GUARD is unsure whether it received a hoax call about an emergency on Carlingford Lough earlier today.
It was tasked by Belfast Coast Guard, which had received a distress call about a small boat said to have three people on board and which had experienced engine failure.
The Dublin Coast Guard helicopter searched the southern shore for two hours, and Kilkee Life Boat was also involved.
The search was eventually called off when nothing was found after extensive searching.
“We’re not so sure it was a hoax call,” a spokesperson told TheJournal.ie.
“After it was stood down, we did get a call to say a lady had seen a small wooden boat on a trailer being towed by a Land Rover from a beach near Greenore. There is no guarantee it was the boat but it’s probably a good chance.”
He added that the Coast Guard gets around three to four hoax calls a year, and you “can usually tell” which calls are hoaxes. The number of hoax calls has declined over the years.
The Coast Guard is appealing for the people who were said to have been on the boat to get in touch if they got back to shore safely.
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