Kinghorn and Queensferry RNLI Save Man’s Life At Cramond Causeway

Both lifeboats and the volunteer crews made best speed to the reported location, around one third along the causeway from Cramond village. Queensferry lifeboat approached from the west and visually located the casualty holding onto a concrete pillar alongside the submerged causeway. Kinghorn lifeboat approached from the east and was able to get alongside the pillar and recover the male casualty into the lifeboat.

The casualty was assessed by casualty care trained crew and taken to Cramond village where an ambulance, coastguard rescue teams and a coastguard rescue helicopter arrived.

Kinghorn lifeboat volunteer helm Neil Chalmers said, ‘Both lifeboats were tasked at 4.16pm to a report of a person in the water at Cramond causeway. On arrival on scene, the exhausted casualty was located clinging to a concrete pillar and partly submerged in the water whilst the tide continued to flood. Our crew brought the casualty into the lifeboat and carried out a full assessment as we made our way to Cramond village.

‘The person was extremely lucky, and we assume had been trying to get back from the island on the rising tide. Fortunately, a member of the public spotted them and called the coastguard.

‘The rescue operation was a great example of teamwork amongst the emergency services with Kinghorn and Queensferry crews working together to locate and recover the casualty. Once alongside, lifeboat crew, coastguard personnel and ambulance crew moved the man to an ambulance where he was taken to hospital with lacerations and suspected hypothermia.'

If you see anyone or anything in difficulty at the coast, please call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.

Notes to Editors

• Kinghorn lifeboat station has been operating since 1965. To learn more about the lifeboat station go to www.rnli.org.uk/kinghorn

Media contacts

Neil Chalmers, Lifeboat Press Officer, 07767 380274

Martin Macnamara, RNLI Regional Media Manager for Scotland, 07920 365929, [email protected]

Natasha Bennett, RNLI Regional Media Officer for Scotland, 07826 900639, [email protected]

RNLI Press Office, 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 142,700 lives.

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