Signal from distress beacon launches Wirral lifeboat crews

The signal was detected by HM Coastguard at around 8am on Tuesday (February 13), Hoylake and New Brighton RNLI teams were alerted and launched into action.

The distress beacon was detected in the Wirral area and led to searches of both the River Mersey and River Dee.

The signal suggested a casualty could potentially be within a 5 nautical mile radius somewhere around the Wirral coast.

The lifeboats set out to locate the source of the beacon using their radio signal direction-finding equipment.

They searched for nearly three hours.

Hoylake RNLI lifeboat initially searched along the north Wirral coast, before heading towards Prestatyn and into the Dee Estuary. Meanwhile, New Brighton RNLI lifeboat took the search into the River Mersey along both the Wirral and Liverpool sides of the water.

The distress beacon was detected in the Wirral area and led to searches of both the River Mersey and River Dee (Image: New Brighton RNLI)

While in the River Dee, Hoylake RNLI lifeboat detected a weak and intermittent signal in the direction of Queensferry in North Wales.

The lifeboat immediately headed towards the signal to investigate. However after further searches, the beacon could no longer be detected.

With no further reports of people or vessels missing or in distress, HM Coastguard stood down the RNLI lifeboats.

Hoylake RNLI Coxswain Howie Owen said: "The two lifeboat crews searched for nearly three hours after the alarm was raised.

"While there was nobody in difficulty in this case, the incident is testament to the commitment of RNLI volunteers who will always drop everything to save lives at sea.

"We would advise everyone who owns lifesaving equipment such as emergency position-indicating radio beacons (EPIRBs) or personal locator beacons (PLBs) to ensure they’re registered with the Coastguard.

"This helps the authorities to identify and contact owners in an emergency."