Volunteer crews who staff the Loch Lomond Rescue Boat have confirmed that the lifeboat was called for assistance five times this weekend amid the high temperatures in the west of Scotland.
The boat and crew were also involved in the huge search operation that was staged to search for a young girl who had got herself into difficulty in the River Leven near Balloch Bridge - a search that tragically ended with the recovery of the body of a young girl around 9:45pm last night.
The young girl has since been named locally as 12-year-old Ava Gray, a talented young dancer.
A Facebook post published this morning from the volunteer crew, based in Luss, read: "It was a busy weekend for Loch Lomond Rescue Boat with the boat being called for assistance five times.
"Sadly the boat and crew were involved in the call last night in which a young girl had got into difficulty in the River Leven near to the Balloch Bridge area.
"After an extensive search which also involved two helicopters police divers recovered the body of the girl but she was tragically pronounced dead at the scene. Our thoughts are with the girls family at this time."
Last night's tragic incident comes after the rescue boat provided assistance to Police Scotland after the body of a 50-year-old male was recovered from the water near to Lomond Shores back in June.
