Tourist sparks rescue after reporting nine-year-old shipwreck
A holidaymaker in Scotland sparked a full-scale alert when she reported a ship that had sunk nine years ago.
The well-meaning woman made the call after spotting the fishing trawler which had sunk off Cairnbulg, Aberdeenshire in 2005.
Fraserburgh RNLI was called to the wreck on Friday afternoon.
Speaking to STV News, Billy Watson of Fraserburgh RNLI said: "A tourist had been standing on the local landmark Tiger Hill and she saw the Sovereign lying on its side.
"She must have thought that it had just freshly sunk and made the call to the RNLI. It is a familiar landmark to locals but you can see how easy it would be for a visitor to mistake it for a vessel in distress. It was a mistake made with the best of intentions."
The Daily Mirror reports that the woman could have made the decision to call the RNLI after three children were rescued nearby when they were dragged out to sea by a current earlier this week.
The ship ran aground in 2005 and its team was airlifted to safety. It featured in the promotional poster for 2013 film The Life of Pi.
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