“Missing” woman sparks major sea search 17/2/13
A major search for a female feared to have fallen overboard from the Stornoway ferry has been stood down after the missing person turned up in Inverness tonight (Sun).
The maritime emergency services were involved in a large scale search for the woman who was last seen around 4.20pm on the afternoon crossing from Lewis to Ullapool on the MV Isle of Lewis.
The cyclist, said to be in her mid fifties, is understood to resides on Lewis though is not a native of the island.
A diligent crew member spotted her bike was left behind on the vehicle deck after all passengers disembarked at Ullapool at 5.15pm.
The ship was thoroughly searched by crew once. At the same time the onshore authorities were alerted.
Ullapool police officers attended at the pier and the maritime emergency services were called out before 7pm after it emerged there was no sign of the female and no explanation for her not collecting her cycle.
The lifeboats headed at full speed to the scene and Stornoway Coastguard rescue helicopter focused a search near where she was last seen onboard the ship.
The delayed ferry left Ullapool with passengers and rendezvoused with the helicopter near Priest Island, by the Summer Isles, on the track the ferry takes between the open water of the Minch and the mouth of Loch Broom.
Nearby vessels responded to a relay radio request to assist including the fisheries protection patrol vessel, FPV Jura, which was about 25 miles north of the incident and an Inverness trawler.
The search was halted when the woman was discovered by police in Inverness around 8.30pm. She had booked into a youth hostel in the Highland capital.
A spokesman for Stornoway Coastguard said: “The missing woman has been found safe and well. All emergency services have been stood down.”