PICTURES: Kyle RNLI crew rescue hillwalker trapped on narrow coastal ledge for 24 hours in remote Kinloch Hourn location
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A DRAMATIC six-hour rescue saw Kyle's RNLI crew aid a hillwalker who was trapped on a narrow coastal ledge for more than a day after struggling to raise the alarm.
The Kyle lifeboat 'Spirit of Fred. Olsen' was scrambled at 1.20pm on Monday after the UK Coastguard received a call from the hillwalker, who had become trapped in wilderness in the Kinloch Hourn area when walking around lunchtime on Sunday.
After rendezvousing with members of the Glenelg Mountain Rescue team, the crew ferried them to the head of the loch, where there is no electronic communication, and dropped them off at 4pm.
They then headed back out to sea where they could re-establish communication with the Coastguard, and received new information about the walker's position. After moving to retrieve the mountain rescue volunteers they then received another update to say the walker could see the lifeboat but it was too far away to signal.
The lifeboat crew began a systematic search of the area, and at 7pm they located the casualty who was trapped on a small ledge just above the waterline, where he had been stuck for more than 24 hours.
The lifeboat crew managed to reach the casualty and get him aboard, before returning to Kyle where he was reunited with his very relieved family at 7.30pm.
A spokesperson for Kyle RNLI said: ‘This gentleman is an experienced walker who had unfortunately become trapped in an impossible situation, unable to go forward or back.
"Due to the location, he had no mobile signal from the time he had become trapped until Monday lunchtime, when he noticed he had a very weak one. He was then able to get in touch with the emergency services who launch a search and rescue operation.
"We regularly train with other rescue agencies and by working well with everyone involved, we were able to return him back to his family safely."
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