A reported distress call from the sanctioned oil-products tanker Myra has drawn an RAF and coastguard response in the North Atlantic, with harsh weather complicating an incident whose underlying cause remains unknown.

Left- and right-leaning accounts broadly agree on the central facts: the vessel reportedly transmitted an Inmarsat-C distress alert on October 24 while hundreds of miles west of the Outer Hebrides. RAF Lossiemouth and Aberdeen Coastguard were said to be involved, and a local coastguard official confirmed that an operation was under way.¹

Both reports cite Vesseltracker data placing Myra roughly 270 to 290 nautical miles west of Northern Ireland and the Outer Hebrides, in waves of up to 8.8 metres and gusts reaching 70 knots. Despite those conditions, the tanker was reportedly still travelling at about nine knots, while nearby vessels able to help were asked to contact the UK Coastguard.²

The accounts also identify Myra as a Russian-linked tanker travelling from Ust-Luga toward Port Said, Egypt, and note that it is subject to UK sanctions. The government’s designation says there are reasonable grounds to suspect the ship has carried Russian-origin oil or oil products to a third country.¹

Robert Macleod of Glasgow-based Ocean Risk Management told the Press and Journal that the information available to him suggested the tanker was “experiencing difficulties.”² Yet neither account establishes what triggered the alert, whether the vessel required immediate assistance, or the welfare of its crew. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment, according to the left-leaning report.¹