Reports that aircraft ditched at sea near Sark

Saturday 15 August 2020

The Channel Islands Air Search team and the St Peter Port Lifeboat have been stood down for the night following a fruitless search for an aircraft that was reportedly "descending rapidly" off the coast of Sark.

CI Air Search Chief Officer John Fitzgerald said a person on Shell Beach in Herm had reported seeing an aircraft trailing smoke and descending rapidly.

"Air Search was initially tasked to search an area to the East of Sark," he said. 

"Departing at 18:05, Air Search 1 arrived in the search area at 18:15 and commenced a stepladder search. Several small floating items were discounted, including marker buoys, sea birds and bits of wood.

Pictured: RNLI Lifeboat volunteers conducted an extensive search but found nothing (Credit: Dylan Ray).

"At 19:35 Guernsey Coastguard provided new coordinates north of Herm and requested an orbital search of that area. Air Search 1 arrived in the revised area at 19:38 and continued the search, before being stood down at 20:00 by Guernsey Coastguard."

A spokesman for Guernsey Coastguard said the RNLI Lifeboat had also been deployed.

"The St Peter Port Lifeboat arrived on scene at 17:55 with Airsearch 1 arriving at 18:17 at which time an extensive search was conducted in the near perfect conditions of smooth seas and visibility in excess of 10 nautical miles."

Enquiries were made with Air Traffic Control authorities in Guernsey, Jersey, France and the United Kingdom, all of which investigated and found no overdue aircraft or any acting erratically on recorded radar displays.

"No distress calls or beacon alerts were received at any time during the incident," said the spokesman. "At 20:00 with no sightings of any objects or fuel slicks on the water, and no further information from air traffic sources the decision was taken to cease the search.

"Airsearch 1 was back on station at 20:15 with the St Peter Port Lifeboat being back on station at 20:52."

More to follow...