A man was airlifted to hospital today in a serious condition after falling into the Moray Firth from a dinghy just off the Black Isle.
Emergency services rushed to the scene after he was spotted by a member of the public in water close to the shore at Fortrose campsite.
The alarm was raised with the Coastguard at about 8.45am and North Kessock Lifeboat was launched, along with paramedics and a local doctor.
The man was believed to be local to the area and in his 60s.
It was understood that he was a member of Chanonry Sailing Club and may have been using a dinghy to access a yacht berthed in the nearby harbour.
He was wearing a lifejacket when he was found.
The ambulance service was unable to provide any update on his condition.
A North Kessock lifeboat spokesman said that the lifeboat crew were first to arrive on scene and saw the man in shallow water close to the shoreline.
Three crew members left the lifeboat and made their way to the casualty, before taking him ashore, where they immediately started first aid.
The Inverness coastguard team and an ambulance were also dispatched to the scene, along with a coastguard rescue helicopter, which landed just yards away.
The lifeboat spokesman added: “When the ambulance crew arrived on scene, the RNLI volunteers assisted the ambulance crew with further medical care before the casualty was transferred into the coastguard helicopter for onward transfer to Raigmore hospital in Inverness.”
Yesterday at the campsite, several campers told of how they witnessed emergency teams administering first aid to the man on the beach.
Andrew Mills, whose caravan is parked directly in front of where the incident happened, said: “I would like to express my absolute thanks to the RNLI, coastguard, doctor and ambulance staff who worked on the casualty for over an hour, our thoughts go out to the family”.
At about 11.30am yesterday, two police cars could also still be seen parked on the grass verge just above the beach and officers were walking around the area.
