Over the weekend, the NSRI received a distress call from a public member who had seen an emergency flare, only it turned out to be three sky lanterns.
Port Edward, South Africa (17 May 2021) – The NSRI have appealed to the public to avoid setting off Sky Lanterns near coastal areas. One was seen off the coast of Port Edward and confused for a red distress flare.
Last week Friday, just as the sun was setting, the NSRI Port Edward duty crew were activated following eye-witness reports of red distress flares sighted off-shore of Port Edward North Sand Bluff Lighthouse and towards the area of Grannies Pool Beach.
NSRI crew were dispatched to investigate and contact several maritime organisations for assistance and to confirm any missing vessels in the area. A great deal of resources was used to investigate the flare before a second member of the public was able to confirm sighting sky lanterns being set off at 5-minute intervals.
“MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) were alerted, and although there were no reports of any vessel in distress, Telkom Maritime Radio Services were tasked to alert a motor vessel 10 nautical miles off-shore to keep a lookout.
There were no reports of any vessels or craft overdue.
Launching sites were investigated to determine if any vehicles were left abandoned by boaters who may still be at sea.
Glenmore Ski-boat club and Marlin ski-boat club confirmed that they had no craft outstanding or overdue.
All indications gave the appearance to eye-witnesses that red distress flares had been deployed at sea.”
Upon chatting to the public member who happened to be closer to the shore, they learned that the lanterns were possibly faulty as each one only stayed airborne for half a minute before falling to the coastline. This would give the appearance of an emergency flare to anyone further away from the shoreline.
The NSRI are thankful to the public for alerting them to the presence of a possible flare and ask that the public remain vigilant. As for the sky lanterns, they ask that people refrain from releasing them. Not only to avoid false alarms like this situation but to also avoid any potential outbreaks of fire as sky lanterns are known to start fires.
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