Tornado crewmen in hospital following rescue

Two RAF crew remained in hospital after their Tornado jet crashed in the sea off the west coast of Scotland.

The crew, from RAF Lossiemouth in Moray, ejected from the plane before it hit the water at Loch Ewe, near Gairloch, Wester Ross, on Thursday afternoon.

Video footage (shown above) was posted on the YouTube video site showing the plane flying over the Western Isles before it came down.

There were also reports of a fire onboard the Tornado GR4 aircraft but the Ministry of Defence said it was not known what caused the plane to crash and an investigation will take place.

Coastguard and lifeboat crews were scrambled to the scene shortly before 2.45pm and the two were airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. A Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) tug, the Anglian Earl, was also sent to the scene.

A spokeswoman for the MCA said they received a Mayday request from Kinloss at 2.43pm. Two people and two life rafts were found in the water, she said. She added of the air crew: "They were winched from the water to the helicopter and taken to hospital."

A Coastguard helicopter was scrambled six miles north-west of Rubha Reidh, close to the entrance of Loch Ewe. Stornoway Coastguard said lifeboats picked up hand-size parts of the plane which were "flotsam" in the area after the plane went down.

The parts, which were taken back to Stornoway, will be collected by Ministry of Defence personnel later. What remains of the aircraft will be recovered by the Ministry of Defence, the coastguard said.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said on Thursday night they had not been asked to help with the investigation and the Ministry of Defence would be leading the probe into the crash as it was a military aircraft.

The SNP defence spokesman at Westminster Angus Robertson, who is also SNP MP for Moray, said the rescue operation proved UK Government cuts could put lives at risk.

He said: "Shutting up and selling off Scotland's military and coastguard facilities is madness. These Tory cuts are putting lives at risk on land and sea.

"This rescue was coordinated from a centre at Kinloss which faces closure, involved a rescue helicopter from Stornoway whose station is threatened with closure, and involved a tug boat service which is also being axed.

"It is not difficult to see what is at stake, and how serious these cuts could be in terms of emergency responses. The UK Government must think again."

A spokeswoman for the MoD said: "The safety of the public is of paramount importance and we praise the efforts of all those involved in this incident.

"It is wrong to suggest that the public will be at risk under future arrangements of search and rescue.

"No decision has yet been made."

The Tornado GR4 is a two-seat attack aircraft, capable flying faster than the speed of sound and was used in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Four squadrons are based at RAF Lossiemouth. A squadron of Tornado F3 aircraft is based at RAF Leuchars in Fife.

In July 2009 an RAF pilot and navigator were killed when their RAF Leuchars-based Tornado F3 crashed into a hillside in Argyll. Flight Lieutenant Kenneth Thompson, 27, and Flight Lieutenant Nigel Morton, 43, died in the crash near the village of Arrochar.

IN DETAIL

From STV Local