Further details on Egilsay incident

Further details have been released by the RNLI on the incident off Egilsay this morning, where party frolics lead to near disaster, as a swim in sea resulted in hypothermia, and three people almost drowning.

Shetland Coastguard requested the assistance of Kirkwall Lifeboat when a member of the public telephoned to say people were in trouble while swimming off Egilsay.

It later transpired that the incident started when a lady got into difficulties when swimming, and two men had tried to rescue her with kayaks. The kayaks had overturned, and a member of the public had raised the alarm by mobile phone by calling 999.

The lifeboat arrived off Egilsay at 7.30am and the inflatable Y-boat was launched so crew could assess the casualty, who could be seen on the shore. First aid with an oxygen mask was administered by lifeboat crewman Paul Turner.

According to the Kirkwall RNLI, the Shetland based Coastguard rescue helicopter arrived on scene, landing at 8am. A stretcher was then used to transfer the casualty to the helicopter. The kayakers refused to go with the helicopter, but two friends accompanied the person.

The helicopter departed at 8.20am, with the chopper landing at the Coastguard emergency landing area close to Carness, where the three were transferred to Balfour Hospital by ambulance, with assistance from Kirkwall Coastguard Rescue Team.

The lifeboat arrived back in Kirkwall shortly after 9am.