Volunteers at Kinghorn lifeboat have expressed ”disappointment” at a hoax call that led to crews being dispatched.
The incident happened on Friday, following reports of a missing person.
The lifeboat crew was alerted at 1.55pm, after the Coastguard received a 999 emergency call reporting a person in the water at Aberdour.
The lifeboat launched soon afterwards and carried out a search around Aberdour bay, along with a Coastguard rescue team and a rescue helicopter. The search took around an hour and nothing was found. It was then established the call had been a hoax.
Lifeboat press officer Neil Chalmers said: ”We are disappointed that people feel the need to make hoax calls to the emergency services. The RNLI is a volunteer organisation and all of the crew who respond to the pager have work and family commitments.
”Incidents like this use precious funds, which are raised by volunteers to help save lives at sea and train lifeboat crew for the challenges they face. Fortunately, incidents like this are rare.”
The crew at Kinghorn is this week making preparations for its annual Halloween spooky walks, to take place on October 25-27 at Kinghorn Lifeboat Station.
