Longhope Lifeboat launched to search for missing person
(PIC Mary Harris/Longhope RNLI)
Saturday evening proved a poignant night for Longhope Lifeboat to be at sea as the crew were called out to help search for a missing person in South Ronaldsay.
The lifeboat headed out just before 7pm, after being requested to launch by the Coastguard.
An elderly person had been reported missing in St Margaret’s Hope, and the lifeboat was asked to search the maritime area, along with the local coastguards and police. Conditions at sea were good, although it was bitterly cold.
As the lifeboat approached the search area the crew was stood down as the person had been found.
The lifeboat arrived back at station by 7.40pm, and made ready again for service.
The call-out of the lifeboat was on the 49th anniversary of the Longhope Lifeboat disaster of 1969 when the crew of the TGB were lost due to their boat capsizing in a horrendous storm, while responding to a vessel, the Irene, in distress off South Ronaldsay.