Search for 'missing' yacht off Guernsey ends

A four-hour search for a missing yacht off Guernsey ended when its skipper was contacted by mobile phone.

The lifeboat and Channel Island Air Search were called out just before 0800 BST after an automatic vessel emergency alarm was received in St Peter Port.

The alarm was from the German yacht Anne, which had left St Peter Port bound for Cherbourg at about 0630 BST.

Once contacted, the skipper said the boat had suffered an electrical failure which may have set off the alarm.

At the height of the search, the harbour workboat Sarnia and the Sea Fisheries rib Puma were also involved and the authorities in Alderney, Herm and Sark were asked to search their bays and harbours.

The search ended at about 1215 BST.