Teenage sisters rescue a father and son from a Fraserburgh beach

Sisters Isla (15) and Eilidh (14), both pupils at Fraserburgh Academy, had been enjoying some time in the water at the beach at the Waters of Philorth near Fraserburgh in the late afternoon when they heard shouting coming from offshore.

At first the sisters thought the man, who was out of his depth was playing with his child on his shoulders in deep water when they realised that he wasn’t pretending, he was actually in trouble, serious trouble.

Isla swam out with a Lilo while Eilidh ran for their bag with their phones. Isla reached the two persons in difficulty and put the child on the Lilo and got the man to lie across the Lilo as best she could. Fell Beach-goer Keith Gray had also swam out to give assistance and took hold of one side of the Lilo to help Isla.

Keith had been enjoying a picnic at the local beauty spot with his family when he saw what was going on and ran down and into the water to help.

By the time they were back on land although the child was well the man had fallen unconscious and Isla then phoned 999 and asked for the Coastguard.

By another stroke of good luck, nurse Sophie Ross had been walking on the beach when she heard cries for help. Sophie said: 'The young lass had pulled the fellow out of the water and he was on the lilo. We put him in the recovery position and got him to cough up some sea water, checked his pulse and breathing and kept the coastguard up to date with his condition until they arrived.'

Fraserburgh Lifeboat was paged at 17.28. Emergency services arrived quickly and after several minutes the man regained consciousness enough, although still very weak and strapped into his stretcher, to lift his oxygen mask slightly and thank his rescuers before being airlifted to hospital.

Once again the dangers of swimming in our seas have been highlighted and we advise everyone to be very careful when having fun at the coast.

Isla, Elidh and Keith did a brilliant job in rescuing both from the water. The girls, for being so young and springing into action and having the presence of mind to phone the coastguard and calmly give them the details of the incident, enabled the emergency services including Fraserburgh RNLI to respond and arrive so quickly.

The man who has only been recognised as Phil made a full recovery and was discharged from hospital the next day.

Key facts about the RNLI

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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