A lifeboat crew has issued a warning about the dangers of Loch Ness after thousands of people suggested they could join a plan to “storm” the area in search of its famous monster.
The RNLI cautioned that the loch, south west of Inverness, is 230 metres deep and poses a real risk of cold water shock and hypothermia.
READ MORE: Twitter storm after panellists on Jeremy Vine show claims 'Scotland could never survive alone'
It comes after around 18,000 people online said they were going to a Storm Loch Ness event in search of Nessie in September, with more than 39,000 people so far “interested” in the event.
The move appears to have been inspired by a tongue-in-cheek viral plan to storm Area 51 later this year – the US military base in Nevada associated with alien conspiracy theories.
The Loch Ness RNLI team warned that the arrival of such a large number of people at the water risked stretching its resources.
READ MORE: Scotland's anti-Brexit charm offensive goes down a storm in Europe
“With no US Army involved, Loch Ness looks a little less hazardous than storming Area 51, but here we have our own set of problems,” the team said on Facebook.
“Our Atlantic 85 lifeboat has an impressive survivor carrying capacity, but even that will be stretched by the ‘attendees’ of this event.”
The statement said that, “joking aside”, there were some facts to share about the water mass, including that it is deep to an equivalent of the height of nearly two-and-a-half Big Bens.
It continued: “The water temperature is cold! In fact, an average of six degrees centigrade all year round, meaning cold water shock and hypothermia are real dangers.
“Weather conditions and water state can deteriorate rapidly, going from flat calm to a large swell in minutes.
“There are very few areas on the shoreline where it is possible to make it up to a road.
“Waves are wind-generated rather than tidal, so they behave differently to how users might expect.
“Its freshwater is less buoyant than salt, meaning more effort is required to float/swim.”
Unofficial reports suggest that wave heights can reach up to 16ft, it added.
The statement concluded: “Nessie 1-0 Bandwagon.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel