Rescue services were called into action along the Wexford coast after an empty 8-foot dinghy with a 9.9 horsepower Yamaha engine was discovered floating close to the shore at Tinnabearna, north of Blackwater, on Sunday.

The alarm was raised when a couple out walking saw the boat drifting towards the shore, pulled it in and secured it.

The matter was treated as “an incident” and a number of rescue services swung into action, including lifeboats from Wexford, Rosslare and Cahore, Curracloe Coastguard, and Rescue Helicopter 117.

The incident was reported at 5.20 p.m. and efforts were made to discover if anybody had fallen overboard.

The search was called off around 8 p.m. when it was established that no lives were at risk.

It was learned the dinghy had been swept off a yacht in the vicinity of Rosslare and drifted on a tide running north towards the shore and the area searched was from Rosslare to Old Bawn.

Full story in the Echo Group of Newspapers on sale on Tuesday morning.