Balloon triggers emergency response near Flint

Emergency services received a Mayday call at 3pm yesterday (Sunday 25 July), reporting that a microlight had ditched in the Dee Estuary near to Flint.

Multiple teams were called out by HM Coastguard including West Kirby RNLI lifeboat, Hoylake RNLI hovercraft and Flint RNLI lifeboat alongside an HM Coastguard helicopter.

It was established, followed a thorough search of the area, that the object sighted was in fact a large child’s Spiderman balloon - not a microlight aircraft in difficulty, so all units were stood down.

Gary Price, West Kirby RNLI Deputy Launch Authority said:

"In this instance it was a false alarm but a call to the Coastguard had been made with good intentions. We would always encourage people to phone 999 and ask for the Coastguard should they believe that someone is in danger on the water."