The Aran Islands RNLI were on the lookout for for a boat in distress last week, but it turned out that a fireworks display caused a false alarm.
The Aran Islands lifeboat was called out in the early hours of the morning of Saturday, June 5, shortly before 1am, at the request of the Coast Guard.
There had been a reported sighting of red flares in the vicinity of Skerd Rock to the northwest of Inis Mór.
The lifeboat launched with a full crew, arriving in the area around 1:30am that morning.
On arriving, the search was called off when it was discovered that a local gathering had lit of some fireworks, which got mistaken for flares.
Speaking after the call out, Aran Islands RNLI Coxswain in charge Declan Brannigan said, “This transpired to be a false alarm with good intent”.
“But we would like to commend the member of the public who raised the alarm as we would always much rather launch and find that all is well than not launch at all.”
