British and Irish Coast Guard monitor false alarm Russia linked tanker in Atlantic off Irish coast

Niall O'Connor

THE IRISH COAST Guard and British Royal Air Force have been monitoring a tanker linked to Russia that declared a false emergency off the west coast. 

The ship, the Myra, is an oil tanker and was inside the Irish Exclusive Economic Zone when, in huge rolling seas, it declared an emergency on Saturday night. 

The Myra is en route from the major commercial port of Ust-luga in Russia in the Baltic Sea and is steaming south towards Port Said in Egypt. This is a regular trip for Russian Shadow Fleet vessels collecting sanctioned oil.

The Myra is sailing under the Cameroon flag and is listed as being “in ballast”, meaning she is empty. The ship is listed on a sanctions list which came into effect following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.  

It is understood the British Coastguard despatched an RAF P8 Poseidon aircraft to the scene to establish radio contact with the vessel. 

Sources said that the ship had contacted other vessels in the area nearby them and sea conditions were described as severe by a number of sources familiar with the situation. 

The British RAF aircraft is a hugely sophisticated maritime surveillance and patrol plane using the civilian Boeing 737 airframe. It is capable of diverse missions such as monitoring and attacking submarines and naval ships as well as acting as a monitoring station for operations. 

It is believed the reason the RAF were used is because of the range of the vessel and the poor weather conditions. 

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The RAF aircraft made contact with the Myra and the crew told the British forces that it was a false alarm and occurred as they left an area of particularly high seas.  

It is understood that the Irish Coast Guard despatched its Beechcraft aircraft also this morning, made contact with the vessel and took images. It, too, was told that the emergency broadcast was a false alarm and that there are no problems onboard, sources have said.  

A statement from the Irish Coast Guard said: “In support of the UK Coastguard, the Irish Coast Guard has been providing support in an operation in the UK Search and Rescue Region off the Northwest coast.

“An aircraft deployed by the UK Coastguard was despatched to investigate yesterday and communications with the vessel identified a false alert. The Irish Coast Guard continues to provide support to the UK Coastguard and continues to monitor the vessel’s onward track.”

A spokesman for the British Maritime and Coastguard Agency, or His Majesty’s Coastguard, confirmed the operation also.

“At 2.06pm yesterday (Saturday 24 October), HM Coastguard received distress alerts from a tanker with 21 people on board travelling around 350 nautical miles off the Isle of Mull.

“A Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft was sent to investigate and established communications with the vessel, whose crew confirmed a distress signal was activated as they left an area of large swells.

“It was determined that there was no need for assistance, and that the vessel would continue with onwards passage,” the spokesman said.

British forces have previously been involved in the boarding and inspecting of Russian tankers most notably in the English Channel or La Manche in June.