REPORTS of a body being spotted in Walney Channel sparked a police and coastguard search.
Emergency services were called at around 8pm last night after a young boy reported seeing what he thought was a body in the water.
The sighting sparked a search in the channel that was carried out by the coastguard, Barrow lifeboats and the police.
It has since been reported that the object spotted by the youth was a mooring buoy.
John Falvey, Barrow lifeboat spokesman, said: “The young lad should receive a pat on the back for being so vigilant. We think that the flood tide had pushed the mooring buoy down in the water with the result that there would be a ‘V’-shaped bow wave flowing down either side of the buoy.
"This could appear to a passer-by as a pair of arms. As it was, the whole thing was a false alarm with good intent, but if there had been a person in the water then that vigilance and action of the young man could possibly have saved a life, and we are grateful to him.”
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