A Fife businessman who incredibly survived after plunging his helicopter into a loch amid a bizarre drama involving his missing boat says he is lucky to be alive.

Keith Punler, the multi-millionaire founder of the Kapital Corporation, said: "Somebody was watching over me."

The tycoon was flying from Fife to Argyll to be with his partner and her daughter - but as he came in to land along the western shore of Loch Long the chopper clipped the water and flipped over.

Mr Punler was strapped in but somehow managed to free himself and then swam clear of the wreck to shore. Amazingly, he escaped with relatively minor injuries and told the emergency services he did not need to go to hospital.

The drama began to unfold early on Tuesday morning when Mr Punler, 45, got a phone call from his partner while he was in Dunfermline.

Mr Punler's speedboat was missing and someone had allegedly tried to break into his lochside home during the night.

He said: "I wasn’t at the house I have in Argyll but my partner and her family were. My partner had heard a disturbance during the night but didn’t think anything of it. Only when the police turned up at the door did she realise there might be an issue.

"I was on my way back to comfort my partner and her daughter—not, as some of the papers had it, to look for my boat. As I was arriving back the place was a hive of activity. There were police around the garden and I just got distracted on the way in."

The helicopter turned over and Mr Punler found himself upside down in the freezing waters of the loch.

He added: "Being upside down in a helicopter in the water is not a nice place to be. I managed to get out and swam ashore. I am very lucky somebody was looking after me. The outcome could have been very different."

Mr Punler, from North Queensferry, was once on the books of Dunfermline Athletic FC and is chairman of the Fife Sports and Leisure Trust.

A chartered surveyor by profession, he made his fortune in property. He set up the luxury house building firm Manor Kingdom, which won many awards during his time at the helm, and sold the business for £40million in 2004.

Mr Punler then set up the Kapital Corporation, which has business interests in property and aviation, including helicopter hire. He has been a qualified helicopter pilot for nine years.

Two men are expected to appear in court in due course in connection with the boat’s disappearance. It was eventually found at the northern end of the loch.