Lifeboat call out was malicious hoax
Eastbourne's all-weather lifeboat was launched yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) following several reports of a Mayday distress call being heard on VHF radio which is now believed to have been a malicious hoax.
Following an exhaustive search by the lifeboat along with several other vessels that had responded, the search was eventually abandoned on the assumption that the call had been a malicious hoax, an Eastbourne lifeboat spokesperson said.
“With the inshore lifeboat being tasked earlier in the day to recover the body of an elderly man from the beach at Cow Gap it proved to be
a difficult day for the volunteer crew,” said the spokesperson.