Police probe hoax mountain rescue call

A police investigation was launched today after a hoax call led to the waste of hundreds of thousands of pounds in a mountain search for a French tourist.

A call for help saw a massive search and rescue operation mounted in the Mourne mountains in Co Down yesterday.

After a day-long operation police announced they were treating the call as “a deliberate hoax” and mounting an investigation.

The alert was said to have started when a French tourist staying at a local hotel called the establishment on Monday morning saying he was lost in the mountains. He gave no further details,

said the PSNI.

Four helicopters and a spotter plane along with dog teams and other rescue teams were sent to look for the man.

But police later called off the search saying they no longer believed the man was missing.

Chairman of the local Down District Council, Colin McGrath, condemned the hoaxer saying : “Here we have one person making one phone call and over £200,000 (€219,000) of public money being spent. That money could be put to much better use.

“The money that has been spent here on one hoax call is unbelievable."