Loch ordeal survivor ‘owes life to rescuer’

A SHEPHERD who survived a terrifying boat capsize says he owes his life to the quick-thinking marina worker who came to his rescue.

Ernie Ripley was trapped under a small boat on an icy Highland loch when an operation to ferry sheep to the mainland went wrong.

He said he was so cold he could feel his “life slipping away” as he struggled to breathe in an air pocket beneath the upturned hull. Nicky Zvegintzov commandeered a small vessel from a fish farm after realising Mr Ripley and fellow shepherd Nial Bowser had been thrown into Loch Linnhe.

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