A British aircraft was called in to respond to an emergency call off the west coast as Irish air corps were not made aware of it.

The incident happened on Sunday evening off the coast of Achill Head in Mayo, after a yacht that had lost all power 35 miles out.

The UK aircraft was brought in as top cover while a RNLI Achill Island Lifeboat unit was sent out to the search and rescue.

Ballyglass Coast Guard say that Rescue 118 came into refuel when their team of volunteers were tasked last night at 23.15 to secure the HLS at Blacksod lighthouse.

The crew managed to secure tow lines on the yacht and began to tow the vessel back towards Achill.

It took until 10am on Monday morning for the lifeboat to arrive at Clare Island where they found a safe spot for the yacht.

Ballyglass Coast Guard said: “The lifeboat crew then proceeded to make their way to their own mooring in Achill where they refuelled their boat in preparation for their next call out.”

Contacted for comment yesterday, a Defence Forces spokesman said: “The Irish Air Corps were unaware of a SAR Top Cover operation that was ongoing yesterday & Air Corps Top Cover assistance was not requested for this particular operation.”