Guest guest Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 LONDON (Reuters) - Lifeboats and a helicopter scoured the sea to track down an electronic distress signal -- only for coastguards to discover it came from a British retiree's faulty digital television box on dry land. The coastguards were scrambled after a rescue coordination center in Scotland picked up what it believed to be a distress signal coming from the sea off southern England. But communications experts later traced the signal to the digital television set-top box in the home of 67-year-old Mary Donaldson in the western town of Plymouth. " We sent a helicopter out and two lifeboats before we discovered that the signal was in fact coming from inland, " a spokesman for the coastguards said Wednesday. Donaldson was at the cinema when the experts tracked down the signal. " We sent two officers there to investigate and they were still there when the lady came home, " the spokesman said. The incident late last month was the second time this year a set-top box in Britain has been blamed for a distress signal. Communications regulator Ofcom said both boxes were being analyzed but stressed such cases were extremely rare. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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