UK Navy crew member goes missing from support vessel off Irish coast

A major multi-agency search operation is currently underway off the north-west coast of Ireland to locate a missing UK Navy crew member.

The person was last seen around 10.30pm on Friday.

A distress call was made to the Irish Coastguard in the early hours of Saturday morning. The Irish Department for Transport confirmed the extensive search efforts.

“The Irish Coastguard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center at Malin Head received a distress alert from a UK Navy support vessel just before 9am this morning,” a statement issued on Saturday said. It was said.

“The alert was for a missing crew member on board and was last seen around 10.30pm last night.”

The ship was located north of Tory Island when the alarm was raised.

Malin Coastguard is co-ordinating the search for the missing crew member in the waters between Tory Island, Co Donegal and Eagle Island, Co Mayo.

The Irish Coastguard, Irish Air Force, RNLI, navy ship and others are involved in the search.

Airborne assets include the Coastguard’s fixed-wing aircraft Rescue 120F from Shannon airport, Coastguard helicopter Rescue 118 from Sligo and Irish Air Force aircraft CASA 284.

At sea, the UK Navy support ship is joined by three RNLI all-weather lifeboats from Ballyglass, Arranmore Island and Lough Swilly, assisted by other ships.

“Other ships of opportunity are also participating in the search,” the statement said.