Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Man rescued from Loch Ness after going for a swim in his boxer shorts

Cam Hendry and his girlfriend, Laura Mattinson, who is 20 weeks pregnant
Cam Hendry and his girlfriend, Laura Mattinson, who is 20 weeks pregnant

A 26-year-old man stripped to his boxer shorts for a swim in Loch Ness but could not get out of the water for an hour – and his pregnant girlfriend had to call 999.

Cam Hendry started worrying when he “lost all feeling in his legs” due to the cold water, as choppy waves slapped him against the side of their hired cruiser boat.

But the Ness Express, a rib boat operated by Cruise Loch Ness, reached him and passengers Alan and Kate James pulled him out of the water, gave him a body suit and took him to Fort Augustus where he was airlifted by coastguard helicopter to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

His 23-year-old girlfriend, Laura Mattinson, who is 20 weeks pregnant, was escorted back to Fort Augustus on the cruiser by Mr James and the Loch Ness lifeboat team – and local police officers then drove her to the hospital.

The couple were on their way from Fort Augustus to Urquhart Castle on Monday when Mr Hendry entered the water in the middle of the loch, opposite Altsigh Youth Hostel.

Mr Hendry, a bus driver from York in England, said: “I thought, ‘I can not go all the way up to Loch Ness and not have a swim. I thought there were steps on the edge of the boat and got down to my boxers and jumped in, and immediately regretted it. I realised how choppy it was and could not step back on.

“My girlfriend is 20 weeks pregnant and she could not pull me back in the boat.

“She threw me a life ring. I think I was in the water for about 30 minutes when she called 999.

“I had started shivering and thought, ‘this is getting really dangerous’. By the time I saw the Ness Express I could not feel my legs and could not turn around because I was getting slapped against the side of the boat.

“I was in the water for about an hour in total and they said my body temperature was below 35C (normal is 37C) when they pulled me out.”

Mr Hendry was given heat pads in the rescue helicopter and then warm towels by hospital staff.

He thanked Alan and Kate James and all other rescue personnel for their assistance and pledged to never do anything “so stupid” again.

The couple have hired their cruiser boat from West Highland Sailing at Laggan Locks for a week and will return home on Saturday after venturing west to Loch Lochy.