Hoy Sound distress beacon was false alarm

It has been confirmed that the emergency distress beacon activated in in Hoy Sound this morning was a false alarm.

A full-scale sea search was launched following the discovery of the beacon, involving both Stromness and Longhope Lifeboat crews, as well as members of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

An MCA spokesperson has now confirmed, however, that the beacon had been activated by accident.

“We responded to the activation of a distress beacon in Hoy Sound this morning, but it proved to be a false alarm,” they explained.

“When one of these distress signals goes off we will always assume that there is a vessel in distress. It will always be treated as a 999 emergency, but in this case, nobody was hurt.”

The spokesperson took the opportunity to remind those who have a distress beacon to make sure it is not activated unless there is a genuine emergency.