TEN MEN IN A BOAT RESCUED

Press release: 115-11                                                                  29 April 2011
At 1.40 pm Forth Coastguard received a 999 call reporting a motor boat broken down and three people in the water.

The small motor boat had broken down and some of the party had entered the water. The motor boat had been launched at Port Edgar and had ten people onboard.

Queensferry and Kinghorn Coastguard teams were called and Queensferry RNLI Inshore Lifeboat was requested to launch, Scottish Ambulance and Granton Sector Manager were also called. The three men were recovered from the water by the lifeboat and the vessel towed into Dalgety Bay, everyone was recovered ashore and two men were taken by ambulance to hospital suffering from mild hypothermia.

Following that incident Forth Coastguard received a further 999 call reporting peddle craft with 3 persons on board in difficulty just outside Elie harbour.

Anstruther RNLI All Weather Lifeboat and Leven Coastguard Rescue Team were already at Elie dealing with another incident. The lifeboat recovered the individuals and towed the peddle craft ashore where Leven Coastguard Team were there to meet them.

Simon Ward, Watch Officer, Forth Coastguard said:

Small leisure vessels come with a carrying capacity as recommended by the manufacturer, which should not be exceeded. With ten people onboard this small sports boat it was dangerously overloaded.

In the second incident, taking a water craft without consent is an offence, and pedalos are for fun in a designated area.

Both of these incidents could have ended in different ways, had it not been for the callers ashore who spotted these people in difficulty.  If you see someone in trouble at the coast or at sea, dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

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