Man found after air, land and sea search by Police Scotland, the Thurso RNLI lifeboat, a Coastguard search and rescue helicopter from Inverness and rescue aircraft from Humberside
A huge overnight police, Coastguard and RNLI search for a missing man in Thurso has concluded successfully.
The multi-agency effort was launched in the Crosskirk area west of Thurso last night (Thursday) after concerns were raised for the male’s safety.
Parachute flares were used to light up the surface of the water during the extensive search.
Police Scotland coordinated the mission, calling in assistance from the Thurso lifeboat crew, the Rescue 151 SAR helicopter from Inverness and the Rescue 224 aircraft from Humberside.
The air and sea crews worked through the night into the early hours of the morning with systematic searches for the man, before being stood down at 4.45 am.
A police presence remained in the area throughout this morning.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman confirmed the man had been located after a concern for person call.
A spokesman for Thurso RNLI said: “The Thurso RNLI voluntary crew were paged at 10.24pm on Thursday night, with the relief lifeboat Beth Sell launched at 10.34pm in response to a request for assistance from Police Scotland to assist in a multi agency search for a missing male in the Crosskirk area west of Thurso.
“The lifeboat arrived on scene at 10.50pm and the inflatable Y boat was deployed. Both vessels conducted a search of the coastline.
“The lifeboat was joined by Rescue 151, the SAR helicopter from Inverness and Rescue 224, a fixed wing Coastguard aircraft from Humberside.
“At 3.23am (Friday) the lifeboat was diverted by the aircraft to check out something spotted floating in the sea a few miles offshore.
“At 3.37 pm, the lifeboat crew discovered that the object was a creel buoy.
“The Lifeboat resumed the coastline search at 03.53am. The extensive search pattern can be seen in the photo.
“Throughout the operation, six white parachute flares were deployed to illuminate the search area.
“At 04.45am the coxswain Mark Johnston got word to stand down and returned to Scrabster where the lifeboat was made ready for service at 05.30am.”
The man’s condition has not been disclosed.
