Emergency beacon alert sparks four-hour search
An appeal has been launched to help find the owner of an emergency distress beacon after it was activated in Cornwall.
HM Coastguard said there was a four-hour search off Mounts Bay, St Ives and Falmouth after the unregistered beacon went off at about 13:00 BST on Wednesday.
Eight lifeboats were involved in the search, the coastguard said.
It said "nothing untoward" was found and the search was suspended at 01:00 BST.
Falmouth coastguard said: "The beacon is unregistered, so the HM Coastguard teams do not have the owner's contact details.
"It is not known if it was activated accidentally or if someone is in trouble and needs rescuing.
"Multiple emergency teams searched the Cornish coast all afternoon and into the night. RNLI lifeboats from St Ives, Newquay, Penzance, Falmouth and the Lizard were sent, as well as the fixed wing aircraft."
Jill Rylance, from Falmouth Coastguards, said they did occasionally get "beacons on land sometimes" that people have disposed of.
“We have had them traced to waste disposal sites and they have activated accidently. It could be something like that," said Ms Rylance.
She asked if anyone has disposed of the beacon to get in contact as it could be really helpful.
She said the alarm had to be "treated as a distress" as people could be in "grave and imminent danger".
Daniel Winter, Maritime Operations Commander, HM Coastguard said: "We would still like anyone who may have information to help us identify and locate the owner of the beacon to get in touch with our Falmouth operations centre.”
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