TROON’S RNLI team were called out for the first time in 2018 after reports of a body being seen from a passenger on the Arran ferry.

On Friday, January 5, Belfast Coastguard were alerted to a possible body in the water off Ardrossan.

A passenger on-board the Arran ferry had seen what they believed to be a body in the water and notified staff who in turn notified Belfast Coastguard Operations Centre (CGOC).

An approximate position of this sighting was passed to the Coastguard and at 1.07pm the lifeboat crew were paged to investigate.

The Trent class all-weather lifeboat ‘RNLB Jim Moffat’ was launched to the position approximately four-miles off the coast.

On arrival, a search was undertaken by the volunteer crew to locate what had been sighted from the ferry.

Shortly before 3pm and with nothing found, the lifeboat crew were stood down by Belfast Coastguard and returned to station where the lifeboat was refuelled.