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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Kris Gourlay

Edinburgh lifeboat crew race to historic island as casualty rushed to hospital

Edinburgh rescuers rushed to a small island north of the capital during a 'medical evacuation' operation.

The RNLI Queensferry crew were paged to Inchcolm Island between Fife and Edinburgh on Sunday afternoon to rescue a casualty following a medical incident and return them to dry land.

They say the person was rushed to hospital following the incident, but could not disclose any more information about their age, gender or condition.

READ MORE: Police helicopter deployed as 'vulnerable' Midlothian man reported missing

The island officially has no residents living on it, but often attracts visitors to witness the former Augustine Abbey. During both the First and Second World War, the island acted as part of the Firth of Forth's defences.

It was the first of two operations the crew were paged to on Sunday after they were called to Cramond Island shortly after 6pm after two children were stranded.

Fortunately, they were both picked up by lifeboat crew and transported to Cramond Village to await UK Coastguard personnel.

A post on RNLI Queensferry Lifeboat's page read: "First paged at 14:35 to a medical evacuation on Inchcolm Island. The casualty was brought back to Hawes Pier and transferred into the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service and taken to hospital.

"The lifeboat had been fuelled, washed and made ready for next service, just about to be pulled into the boat shed when the next tasking came in.

"Launched at 18:08 to two children stranded on Cramond Island. Both picked up by lifeboat crew and transported to Cramond Village and waiting UK Coastguard personnel. This makes for 5 taskings in the last 5 days for our busy lifeboat."

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “We received a call at 14:39 on 9 July 2023 to attend an incident on Inchcolm Island. We dispatched an ambulance and two SORT resources to the scene and one patient was transported to Royal Edinburgh Infirmary.”

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