Pranksters are being warned to stop fooling with flares after a false alarm prompted a large-scale land and sea search.

Coastguard officials began looking for a boat in distress when a red flare signal was fired over St. David's shortly after midnight yesterday.

Bermuda Harbour Radio asked vessels to be on the lookout for trouble and the Somers Isles container ship swept around the east end of Bermuda.

A Police patrol car was also sent on search duty but nothing was found and the operation was called off more than an hour later.

A spokesman for Bermuda Harbour Radio said: "It's very frustrating when this sort of thing happens and this is being treated as a hoax.

"It was definitely some form of distress flare which was fired but we couldn't find anything in danger at all.

"We have had a history of these sort of hoaxes and we would always warn people against this type of thing.'' He continued: "Therea is always the potential that somebody else could get into trouble while a search was underway following a false signal and we would never want that to happen.

"The penalties for these hoaxes are also quite stiff. But we are asking boat owners to be vigilant and keep these things out of reach of children or youths.

"We don't want to see hoaxes become a really regular occurrence.'' Bermuda Harbour Radio also co-ordinated a medical rescue during the weekend.

The captain of the 5,300-tonne Nordholm bulk carrier radioed in to say a 42-year-old crew member had collapsed in the engine room yesterday.

The Cypriot ship, carrying petroleum coke from Louisiana to France, diverted to Bermuda when it was about 100 miles south east of the Island.

A pilot boat was sent out to fetch the sick crewman, a Filipino engineer, and he was taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital just after midday.

The Harbour Radio spokesman added: "Apparently, he had taken ill and collapsed so we were asked to get him ashore for treatment.

"He had taken a turn for the worse in the engine room and other crew members noted all sorts of symptoms, saying he had a high temperature, high pulse and was unable to walk.

"He was also quite pink with a swollen face when we brought him ashore but he was taken off to hospital for immediate treatment.''