The UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution has warned the public against exploring Loch Ness in search of a mythical monster.
The warning comes after over 60,000 people responded to a Facebook event planning to ‘storm’ the Scottish loch to prove the Loch Ness Monster’s existence.
The tongue-in-cheek ‘storm Loch Ness, Nessie can’t hide from us all’ event is planned for September 21.
"Our Atlantic 85 lifeboat has an impressive survivor carrying capacity, but even that will be stretched by the 'attendees' of this event,” the RNLI said.
It also spelled out the dangers of the loch, which has an average temperature of six degrees celcius throughout the year.
It is over 230m deep and due to wind and the water can become suddenly rough.
"Waves are wind generated rather than tidal, so they behave differently to how users might expect. Its fresh water is less buoyant than salt, meaning more effort is required to float/swim,” the statement read.
The myth of a monster in the loch has been around since 565 AD, the Inverness Tourist Board claims, when the monster was said to have eaten a servant. Hundreds of people have reported seeing the beast, nicknamed Nessie, ever since.
The event is seemingly inspired by a similar viral movement to ‘storm’ US military base Area 51 to prove the existence of aliens. The Nevada base has long been the focus of conspiracy theories about extra terrestrials being kept secret by the US government. Over one million people responded to the event, leading the US Air Force to warn people away from the site.
“We would discourage anyone from trying to come into the area where we train American armed forces,” a spokeswoman said.
The man who created the US event said he had not planned to actually go to Area 51 and the event was a “joke”.
