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Campbeltown’s D class lifeboat. To buy: c30lif01 |
TWO lifeboats were called out on Saturday and one rescue ended successfully and the other in sadness.
The rescues, in Campbeltown Loch and the Sound of Islay, took place during a weekend of industrial action by Coastguards which saw the Clyde control centre’s calls at Greenock handled by Belfast Coastguards.
A Romanian man’s life was saved on Saturday thanks to Campbeltown Lifeboat’s fast reactions.
The 23-year-old came into difficulty 300 yards from the NATO Jetty, and in just 11 minutes the D class lifeboat was with him after receiving the call at 6.22pm. The three crew members, Helmsman Raymond Harvey, Alasdair McPhee and David Mullen took Gabriel Pecaru and his nine-foot long plastic kayak aboard the lifeboat and brought him back to the station.
Once there he was taken ashore and stripped of his outer clothing and wrapped in blankets until the ambulance arrived.
Within 40 minutes of the first call Mr Pecaru was in hospital. Operations manager of Campbeltown Lifeboat, George Bradley said: ‘I believe the crew’s quick reactions to the distress call saved this man’s life.’
Earlier that afternoon a 76-year-old angler visiting Jura was swept from the shore on Saturday and later died in hospital.
The man, whose name has not been made public, was fishing with friends at Inver on Jura on Saturday afternoon when he was swept into the Sound of Islay; a strong tide was running at the time.
Islay’s all weather lifeboat was launched within 10 minutes with a crew of five on board; the lifeboat station is also on the Sound of Islay at Port Askaig and once at the scene crew launched the ‘Y’ boat, the small RIB carried on board to help in the search.
Islay MacEachran of Islay lifeboat station said: ‘A helicopter from RAF Lossiemouth was on the scene very quickly and found the man within two sweeps.’
The casualty, who had been wearing waders but no lifejacket, was winched directly from the sea and into the helicopter and taken to Lorn and Island District General Hospital, where he later died.
The rescue was co-ordinated by Coastguards in Belfast instead of the usual Clyde Coastguard at Greenock because of industrial action. A spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard agency said that Belfast Coastguard had co-ordinated the rescue, sending the RNLI lifeboat, local coastguard rescue teams and the search and rescue helicopter and that all had been despatched within eight minutes.
