Airbed Danger Highlighted By Coastguard Aberdeen Coastguard received a 999 emergency call on
5 August 2003
reporting that an empty airbed had been spotted offshore with no sign of
an occupant in the water.Coastguards requested the launch of Thurso Lifeboat and tasked members of Scrabster CRT to carry out a sweep of Thurso Bay. The Coastguard ETV �Englishman� was luckily already present in Thurso Bay and joined in the search as well as dropping a small recovery vessel to search inshore. Scrabster mobile travelled along Thurso beach issuing a warning to bathers about the danger of airbeds, especially with an offshore breeze and asked them to remain inshore. Coastguards called off the search at about 4.30 p.m. after a thorough scan of the area failed to find anyone in the water. A local creel fisherman picked up the airbed and returned it to Scrabster harbour. |