The Department of Transport has confirmed that an alarm raised by a Russian oil tanker off the north-west coast of Ireland during Storm Boleo was a false alert.
The Myra, which is part of Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of vessels used to circumvent EU and UK sanctions on Russian exports, sails under the Cameroonian flag and entered Irish waters as the area was under a red marine weather warning issued by Met Éireann.
The vessel was listed as in ballast which means empty.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Transport said: “The Irish Coast Guard had been providing support in an operation in the UK Search and Rescue Region off the north-west coast.
“An aircraft deployed by the UK Coastguard was despatched to investigate on Saturday, and communications with the vessel identified a false alert. The vessel in question was monitored by the Irish Coast Guard and has since left Irish waters.”
