Lifeboat called out to false alarm

Stromness lifeboat was called out in the early hours of this morning in response to a distress call from a Spanish fishing boat, the same vessel which last week was escorted into Westray after getting wheelhouse window smashed in heavy seas.

The lifeboat crew were paged by the Coastguard just after 3am. Conditions were again rough, with a 30 knot westerly wind and a high swell. The O Genita – a UK flagged Spanish owned vessel – was north-west of Westray at the time.

The lifeboat was just west of Hoy Sound when the RNLI crew received a call from the Coastguard saying that the fishing vessel crew were not in distress, and that they had not knowingly issued a distress call on their VHF DSC radio set.

The RNLI crew then turned the lifeboat around, and headed for home.