Published Date:
14 March 2008
THE search for John Darwin and his canoe left a lifeboat charity almost £30,000 out of pocket - and wasted three and a half days in volunteer's time.
Six RNLI lifeboats spent 85 hours scouring the North Sea in pointless searches for the missing canoeist who was later presumed dead.
They rushed into the water after the shattered remains of Mr Darwin's red canoe were washed up in the Blue Lagoon.
The voluntary crews from four separate stations – Hartlepool, Redcar, Teesmouth and Staithes and Runswick – were launched on the day and to possible sightings in the following week.
An RNLI spokesman said: "Of course, as the majority of RNLI crews are volunteers, the real cost is the time they have to give up both when they are on a service and in training – and that's something which is impossible to quantify."
-
Last Updated:
14 March 2008 9:26 AM
-
Source:
n/a
-
Location:
Hartlepool
