§ Mrs. DunwoodyTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if the mayday recently issued by the FV Canadian Park was received by coastguard stations other than Clyde. [5650]
§ Mr. BowisI have asked the chief executive of the Coastguard agency to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from C. J. Harris to Mrs. Gwyneth Dunwoody, dated 27 November 1996:
The Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your question about the mayday issued by the fishing vessel CANADIAN PARK at 0027 on 22 October 1996 on 2182 kHz.No coastguard station other than Clyde received the distress message. Although the casualty was more than 2,400 miles away, and well outside the UK's Search & Rescue Region, it is suspected that anomalous propagation resulted in Clyde receiving the transmission. That is the nature of this particular radio medium: no reliance is placed on such long range reception—we regard the working range of 2182 kHz under normal conditions as 150 miles.