There were three emergency calls for the Coastguard in just one hour on Sunday night.
With shouts to a yacht in trouble in the Sound of Luing shortly before midnight, at the same time a medical evacuation from the Isle of Mull, and an hour later a patient transfer to the mainland from the Isle of Raasay – it was a busy night for Stornoway controllers.
Oban RNLI and Coastguard teams were at the heart of two of the calls, while Portree Coastguard were called to assist on the Isle of Raasay before Rescue 948 was called to take the patient to Raigmore in Inverness.
A spokesman for the Coastguard said: “We were called shortly before 12pm to a broken down yacht in the Isle of Luing.
“We tasked the RNLI from Oban to assist, which the team did.
“The operation was finished and back to Oban at 3.30am.”
A second operation for the RNLI and Coastguard teams was a medical evacuation from the Glenforsa area of Mull.
The spokesman continued: “At midnight we were called to assist in a medical evacuation.
“The patient was transferred by helicopter Rescue 199 from the Isle of Mull to Oban.
“The incident was completed by 3.20am. The patient was taken into the care of Lorn and Islands hospital in Oban.”
Call to Isle of Raasay
The third call was a call to help in a medical evacuation from the Isle of Raasay.
He continued: “We were called at 12.58am to assist in the transfer of a patient from the island.
“We tasked Portree lifeboat to assist in the transfer.
“The casualty was brought to the mainland and then the Rescue 948 helicopter was then tasked to take the patient to Raigmore.
“The Raasay incident was completed by 6.20am when the lifeboat was back onside.”
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