A rescue mission was launched at a Moray port in the early hours of this morning amid fears a man may have plunged into its waters.
Lifeboats from Buckie and Macduff scoured the area around Portknockie harbour for an hour after the discovery of an abandoned car on the pier.
The Buckie vessel was deployed shortly after midnight, and 30 minutes later a crew from Macduff joined in the search at the darkened inlet.
The operation was called off at 1am when the owner of the white Honda Civic was traced at his home.
Yesterday a police spokeswoman confirmed a man “in distress” had been spotted at the port late on Sunday night.
She said: “We received a report at about 11.25pm from somebody concerned for a man seen to be in distress around the harbour area.
“His car was found down by the port, and coastguard crews were contacted.
“The lifeboat came out to have a look for the man, but when police visited his home later on he was traced there and the search was stood down.”
A spokesman for the coastguard service confirmed rescue workers had assisted the police in their search for the missing man.
After scouring the port for 30 minutes without finding any sign of him in the water, the Buckie crew called colleagues in Macduff to join the search.
An RNLI spokeswoman said: “The Macduff crew was paged at 12.35am to assist the Buckie RNLI crew in a search for a missing person in force five conditions.
“The Macduff crew travelled by launch vehicle to help search the area.
“At 1am they were stood down before they launched the lifeboat as the casualty was reported to be back at home and safe.”