RNLI/Troon LifeboatAn Ayrshire lifeboat crew launched into gale-force winds and rough seas to help rescue a patient stuck on the Isle of Cumbrae.
Around 5pm on Sunday, during an amber wind warning, the volunteer crew at Troon lifeboat station were asked by Belfast Coastguard to transport a medical team to the Isle of Cumbrae.
Due to the weather conditions, all other methods of transport, including helicopter, were deemed unsuitable, so Troon’s all-weather lifeboat was launched after being given the go-ahead.
Crews faced 60-knot winds, poor visibility and rough seas as Storm Boelo battered the West Coast of Scotland.
However, the RNLB Roy Barker VI managed to push through conditions and made it to Largs around 6pm where the Emergency Medical Retrieval team were taken aboard.
The team were transported to Millport, where they proceeded to the Lady Margaret Hospital to assess the patient, while the lifeboat crew remained docked awaiting an update.
Following assessment, at about 8.30pm the patient was transferred to the lifeboat along with the medical team. for the journey back to the mainland.
Arriving in Largs, the coastguard rescue team along with the lifeboat crew assisted in transferring the patient into an ambulance, which then took the patient to hospital.
Troon lifeboat and her crew made their way back to base, eventually arriving in port at around 10.20pm, just after the amber warning had ended.
Troon RNLI launch authority Jim Young said: “My thanks to all the lifeboat crew who professionally, safely and successfully completed the callout in horrible weather conditions and to the shore crew who ably assisted the operation.
“I have no doubt that your sterling efforts were greatly appreciated by the coastguard, ambulance service and of course the patient.”
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