A lifeboat crew in Ireland recently launched a search fearing the worst, only to find the suspected person in distress was actually a life-sized Mickey Mouse inflatable.
A lifeboat crew in Ireland recently launched a search fearing the worst, only to find the suspected person in distress was actually a life-sized Mickey Mouse inflatable.
The search kicked off after a flood of calls came into the Irish Coast Guard co-ordination centre in Dublin. The callers said they saw a mysterious object crashing into the water.The immediate fear was a paraglider was in the water, as several had been seen operating in the area.
When the crew of seven onboard the All-Weather lifeboat arrived at the specified spot, they found an inflatable Mickey Mouse balloon drifting and flying on top of the water’s surface.
They rescued the balloon and pulled it out of the water. Given that it was a false alarm, it’s a good thing the search was brief.
Lifeboat operations manager Stephen Wynne later commented “We're happy that this was a call made with good intent and calling 999 and asking for Coast Rescue is always the best course of action. And in this case, we were particularly happy to assist Mickey Mouse, one of the all-time favorite cartoon characters.”
