A suspected hoax call has put the lives of a lifeboat crew at risk during stormy conditions in the Firth of Forth.
Two members of the RNLI Queensferry lifeboat station had to be airlifted ashore after they became stranded while responding to the call-out at Cramond Island shortly after 1.30pm on Tuesday.
The crew had been scrambled after the coastguard received a call from a mobile phone from someone who said four people were trapped on the island, one of whom had a broken leg.
In 50mph winds and heavy seas with a metre-and-a-half swell, the Queensferry lifeboat managed to land the two crew members on the east side of the rocks where they began an extensive search of the island.
A helicopter from HMS Gannet in Prestwick was also called upon to aid the search, but both the lifeboat crew who searched ruined buildings on the island and air rescue team drew a blank and decided to stand down.
However, the worsening conditions and gale force winds meant it became too dangerous for the Queensferry lifeboat to take the two lifeboatmen off the island, meaning they had to be airlifted by the helicopter to dry land.
The call is being treated as a malicious hoax and is being investigated by the police.
RNLI spokesman Richard Smith condemned those responsible for their actions, stressing the call-out could have cost the lives of the rescuers and potentially other people in real emergencies on the Forth.
“The making of a hoax call is an extremely serious offence and anyone responsible should be brought to justice and punished,” he said. “There is no excuse, no justification, for someone to make a false report about persons or vessels in distress.
“The majority of malicious calls state that someone is in trouble at sea and this will trigger off a rapid response from the RNLI , air sea rescue and the coastguard service at a cost which runs into thousands of pounds.
“Every time a malicious phone call is made to the emergency services it means that the RNLI has to alert the volunteers to form a crew.
“They can be taken away from their work, their social life, their families, often at times of great inconvenience, and man a lifeboat to spend what could be hours at sea in all weathers on a fruitless search.
“The crime is made even worse by the fact that a lifeboat is engaged on hoax call and effectively out of action when a real-life drama could be unfolding somewhere else.”