Courtmacsherry crew stood down after distress beacon located

The Courtmacsherry RNLI Lifeboat Val Adnams was called out by the Irish Coast Guard at 4.55pm on Friday to search an area off the Old Head of Kinsale, after a personal locator beacon was activated in the area.

The beacon gave a distress signal as being a mile off the headland and the lifeboat crew of five and coxswain Mark Gannon went to the location in rough seas and strong winds and they thoroughly searched the area off the Old Head and out to sea.

After searching the area for 90 minutes, The  Irish Coast Guard ascertained that the signal was on board an unoccupied boat in a nearby harbour and the search was stood down.

The crew arrived back to the Courtmacsherry pontoon at 7pm and were greeted by An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who was in the area for a Fine Gael gathering.

‘It was great to see our new All Weather Lifeboat Val Adnams perform so well under difficult conditions,’ said the lifeboat press officer, Vincent O’Donovan. ‘And it was great that An Taoiseach took time out of his busy schedule to visit the lifeboat crew on their return and to meet with station personnel and volunteers.’

The crew on the callout included Mark Gannon, mechanic Stuart Russell, as well as Ken Cashman, Dara Gannon, Denis Murphy and Evin O Sullivan.