Volunteer lifeboat crew at Portaferry RNLI were called out on Wednesday 29 August to help in the search for a woman reported missing to police.
The volunteer crew of the Portaferry lifeboat were paged at  5.00pm and the RNLI lifeboat, an Inshore Atlantic 85, was launched at 5.05pm. [caption id="attachment_38072" align="alignright" width="270"]
The Portaferry lifeboat played its part in the search for a missing woman from the Strangford area.[/caption]
An RNLI spokesman said: “The volunteer crew were on scene just off Strangford village on the shores of Strangford Lough in County Down at 5.07pm and commenced their search of the waters along the shore line towards the northern end of Strangford Lough.
“The weather at the time was raining with good visibility and a force 4 westerly wind.
“The multi agency search included members of the PSNI, Coastguard teams from both Portaferry and Bangor and Rescue 116, the Irish Coast Guard helicopter which had been dispatched from Dublin.
“The volunteer RNLI crew searched Strangford Lough’s western coastline as far north as Salt Island before crossing to the eastern side of the Lough and searching towards the southern end of the Lough through Ballyhenry Bay towards Portaferry and the stretch of water running between the villages of Portaferry and Strangford known as The Narrows.
“It was as the volunteer RNLI crew reached Portaferry that they received word to stand down as news came through that the woman had been found safe and well by the Portaferry Coastguard team.”
Speaking on behalf of the Portaferry RNLI, Brian Bailie the Lifeboat Operations Manager said: “It is at times like this that all of the hard work and training our volunteers put in comes to fruition. Training with the other emergency and rescue services is essential for all concerned, as today certainly proves.”
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