PRESS RELEASE Lifeboat launched following red flare sightings at Ingoldmells Russell Matthews, 25/8/09
Skegness RNLI lifeboat the Lincolnshire Poacher launched late last night (Monday) to investigate sightings of red flares from Ingoldmells Point.
The volunteer crew on the all-weather lifeboat launched at 11:35pm to perform radar and night-vision searches of the area between Ingoldgmells Point and the Inner Dowsing wind farm, to the north of Skegness.
The coxswain of Skegness lifeboat, John Irving, said that after searching for over an hour in good conditions coastguards called off the search as it was believed the flares were fired from land. "Visibility was good but we saw nothing either visually or using our radar and as Chapel coastguards were talking to the person who reported the sighting they determined the flares were most likely fired from the shore."
The Lincolnshire Poacher was released from the search by coastguards, returned to Skegness at 1:15am (Tuesday) and was recovered, washed down and ready for service again at 2:10am.
The launch comes as RNLI lifeboat crews prepare for what is traditionally the busiest weekend of the year this August bank holiday.
