A man dressed in a banana costume was rescued from freezing water after he fell into Stornoway harbour on Friday night.
One passer-by said the casualty jumped over the railings at the port’s South Beach quay in the outer harbour in the Isle of Lewis.
Thanks to swift action from his friends and paramedics, the man survived the plunge into the icy water chilled by strong northerly winds on biting cold night.
The man and his friends were at the adjacent bus station, next to the Cal Mac ferry terminal when he went into the sea – complete with fancy dress – around 9.20pm said a passer-by.
His friends flung him a lifebelt and he managed to tug it over his head and down his body.
Using the attached rope, they dragged him to the rock-fill embankment at the ferry terminal.
Scottish Ambulance staff were quickly on the scene and assisted in recovering him out of the water and onto the pathway.
He was taken into the shelter for the ambulance to be treated before being taken to the accident and emergency department at the Western Isles Hospital.
The bystander said: “The man was wearing a banana suit and he must have been at some fancy dress event, perhaps it was for Halloween.
“There was a group of people at the bus station who seem to be together when he jumped over the rail into the water.
Metal railings run alongside the length of the quayside and “you could not fall in there by accident.”
“His mates pulled him over to boulders at the corner of the bus station and ferry terminal to get him out of the water. He was wearing the lifebelt round him. Then the ambulance staff took over.”
He added: “He was lucky as it was very cold.
“And if the tide had been out it could have been worse.”
A spokesman for Stornoway Coastguard rescue team said: “Stornoway Coastguard operation centre requested the assistance of the team after being alerted to a person in the water near the ferry terminal at Stornoway harbour.
“As the team were mobilising, we were notified that the person had been rescued by Scottish Ambulance Service and bystanders and conveyed to Western Isles Hospital.”
A Western Isles NHS spokesman said the casualty was later discharged from hospital.