Aberdeen Lifeboats assist injured horsewoman on beach
Both of Aberdeen's lifeboats launched shortly after 8pm yesterday evening, Tuesday 11 September, responding to a request from HM Coastguard to assist an injured person on the coast at Foveran Links, just south of the Ythan Estuary.
A female was reported to have fallen from her horse while riding on the beach.
Aberdeen’s inshore lifeboat (ILB) made its way to shore through the surf and across challenging sand bars. There, the crew met members of the Aberdeen and Cruden Bay coastguard rescue teams on scene and made a provisional assessment of the casualty. The ILB then returned to sea and met the all-weather lifeboat a short distance offshore to ferry a doctor – a volunteer member of the lifeboat crew – to shore to assess and assist the casualty further.
The lifeboat doctor’s recommendation was that the safest precautionary means of extracting the casualty would be by helicopter, leading to Inverness-based Coastguard Helicopter Rescue 951 being tasked to the scene.
Meantime, the Scottish Ambulance Service Special Operations Rescue Team (SORT) arrived on scene and moved the casualty, using their specialist Polaris all-terrain ambulance, to a more accessible helicopter landing site.
Rescue 951 rendezvoused with the SORT ambulance to transfer the injured woman to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
The lifeboats returned to Aberdeen Lifeboat Station to refuel ready for next service at around 11.30pm
Aberdeen Lifeboat coxswain Davie Orr says: “This was a challenging rescue calling for close co-operation between a number of search and rescue assets: Aberdeen’s two lifeboats, Aberdeen & Cruden Bay Coastguard Rescue Teams, Scottish Ambulance SORT Team and Coastguard Rescue Helicopter 951 - all co-ordinated by Aberdeen Coastguard Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Aberdeen.”
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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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