|
A hill walker was airlifted from the Holy Island by navy helicopter on Saturday afternoon after breaking her ankle.
The Ardrossan woman sparked rescue operations by the Lamlash lifeboat and the coastguard service after the alarm was raised by her three companions around 2.20pm.
First on the scene was the lifeboat. Its press officer Alan Little said: ‘We arrived on island under the impression that the injured woman was a quarter of a mile from the lighthouse on the shore.
‘However, we discovered that she was actually about a quarter of a mile up the hill.
‘When we finally reached her with a stretcher, she was being looked after by a doctor and a paramedic who had been walking with her.
‘She was in considerable pain, and it was decided not to remove her walking boot.’
Mr Little said the lifeboat crew became concerned about being able to take the stretchered woman back down the hill safely in wet conditions. ‘We were not confident we could, so we decided to call in the coastguard’s cave rescue crew who had all the proper gear.’
The lifeboat then returned to Lamlash to pick up the coastguard crew before going back to the Holy Island and bringing the woman down to the shore.
At that point, the rescue took yet another twist. Mr Little explained: ‘HMS Gannet was on exercise nearby and had been listening in on our messages.
‘It duly sent a navy helicopter to airlift the woman off the island, and the decision was taken to fly her straight to Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.
‘She was accompanied by her female companion, and the other two walkers were taken back to Lamlash by boat.’
