RESCUERS from Rhyl are hunting an SOS hoaxer who sparked a major sea search.
Volunteer crews from Rhyl’s two RNLI lifeboats were taking part in a training exercise off Rhyl Harbour shortly after 1pm on Sunday when the picked up a distress call and immediately launched into a full-scale search.
They heard a very loud and clear mayday message on the marine distress channel.
The broadcast also included the key word Quebec 1 - thought to be the same name used for a vessel off Liverpool - leading the Rhyl crew to conclude the SOS call was genuine.
This was so clear that the crews thought the signal must be in the immediate area, and so notified the main coastguard station at Holyhead.
Both boats were then launched a search campaign for the in trouble vessel.
Liverpool coastguard station had also heard the message, and so the adjacent RNLI lifeboat at Hoylake was launched.
West Kirby and New Brighton inshore RNLI boats were also tasked, together with a relief fleet lifeboat on passage through the area, and local volunteer coastguard units at Rhyl.
In all, over 30 lifeboat personnel and other coastguard officers were involved.
Nothing more was heard over the radio channel, and so a major search was undertaken between Abergele and Liverpool, and out to the shipping channel into the river Mersey.
Rescuers battled force four winds and squally hail conditions during the two and half hour search.
This was put down as a hoax call.
Paul Frost, lifeboat press officer and volunteer RNLI crew member from Rhyl, said: “It costs about £5,800 to launch an All-weather lifeboat, and about £2,200 for an Inshore lifeboat, so the resources put into this fruitless search were about £25,000 overall, not to mention wasting using over 30 volunteers’ time.
“This could have tied up resources and could have endangered lives should a real emergency have happened.
“The RNLI will be assisting HM Coastguard to try to locate and bring the hoaxer to justice.
“The frustrating thing for us was we had four new crew members with us on exercise along with an assessor, he had to spend the next two and a half hours with us.”
Paul revealed the hoax call was the second in three months with the other one traced to Talacre.
Unfortunately on this occasion he explained the coastguard were unable to get a fix on where the radio equipment was broadcasting from but Paul added he suspected it emanated from Rhyl.