Hip injury triggers medivac
The volunteer crew of Oban Lifeboat were paged shortly after 5.30am this morning (Thursday) after Stornoway Coastguard received a report from a small cruise vessel that one of their passengers had broken their hip.
The vessel was in Loch Scridain, on the north shore of the Ross of Mull, which is normally served by Tobermory Lifeboat. However, the cruise vessel’s skipper intimated they wanted to start steaming towards Oban and the decision was taken to launch Oban’s Shannon class lifeboat, The Campbell Watson, to intercept and assist.
Rescue helicopter 199 from Prestwick was also tasked and reached the location before the lifeboat.
The helicopter crew requested that the casualty vessel stay in Loch Scridain, where the water was more sheltered, to allow a winch paramedic to be lowered safely onto the vessel to provide assistance.
On scene, three members of the Oban crew were transferred over to assist the helicopter winchman and worked together to transfer the casualty in a stretcher from their cabin onto the deck where they could be winched into the helicopter for onward transfer to hospital in Glasgow.
The previous evening (Wednesday) Oban Lifeboat had been tasked to assist a yacht between the Island of Lismore and Dunstaffnage that had a fouled prop.
The yacht, which was sailing back towards the Dunstaffnage Marina, asked for assistance to get in and alongside the pontoons.
Oban Lifeboat escorted the yacht to the marina entrance where it was then taken under an ‘alongside tow’ safely into the marina and secured to the pontoons.
We are pleased to report that, despite the evening call-out, members of the crew managed to complete Mile 21 of their Mayday Mile challenge to raise funds for the RNLI.
You can visit our fundraising page https://fundraise.rnli.org/fundraisers/obanlifeboatstation and thank you for your generosity and support.
The images were taken from on board the lifeboat and the cruise vessel this morning.
Key facts about the RNLI
The RNLI is the charity that 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 146,700 lives.
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