Islay RNLI lifeboat helps in search for missing surfer
Islay RNLI lifeboat Helmut Schröder of Dunlossit was launched at 4.22pm on Monday 1 May in response to Belfast Coastguard’s request for help in locating a surfer who had gone missing the previous day off the Campbeltown coast.
Mark Scott, the Relief Coxswain, took the lifeboat with a crew of seven to join the Campbeltown and Red Bay lifeboats and a helicopter in their search patterns off Machrihanish Bay trying to find the surfer.
The surfer had last been seen in the St Catherines area of Argyll at 9am on Sunday 30 April.
Finally he was located by the helicopter crew 13 miles from the coast, winched to safety and taken to hospital in Belfast to be checked over.
Mark Scott said: ‘An excellent outcome by all members of the rescue services involved in the effort to locate the missing person.’
RNLI media contacts: Heather Dewar, RNLI volunteer lifeboat press officer at Islay, on 01496 840600 (H) and Islay lifeboat station on 01496 840608, email [email protected]
Or Richard Smith, RNLI Public Relations Manager Scotland on 01738 642956, 07786 668903 or [email protected]
Or Henry Weaver, RNLI Press Officer for Scotland, 01738 642946, 07771 943026, [email protected]
Or contact RNLI Public Relations on 01202 336789
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The RNLI charity saves lives at sea. Its volunteers provide a 24-hour search and rescue service around the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland coasts. The RNLI operates 238 lifeboat stations in the UK and Ireland and more than 240 lifeguard units on beaches around the UK and Channel Islands. The RNLI is independent of Coastguard and government and depends on voluntary donations and legacies to maintain its rescue service. Since the RNLI was founded in 1824, its lifeboat crews and lifeguards have saved over 146,000 lives.
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