RNLI inspector praises rescue crews

Feb 7 2012

Volunteer lifeboat crews have been praised for their "devotion to duty" in rescuing hundreds of people last year.

RNLI lifeboats were launched 1,006 times and rescued 847 mariners in 2011, making it the charity's sixth busiest year in Scotland.

This was a slight fall from 2010 which saw 1,011 launches and 916 people rescued.

The volunteer crews set out in hurricane and gale-force winds to rescue mariners in distress last year, while around a third of launches took place during hours of darkness.

Altogether the 45 Scottish RNLI crews spent 33,888 hours on their lifeboats, both on rescues and on exercise.

RNLI divisional inspector Paul Jennings said: "The annual statistics reveal once again the devotion to duty by our volunteer crews throughout Scotland. Apart from the shouts, the crews spend a great deal of time in exercising and improving their skills so that they are in a position to help anyone in all types of weather and in all types of situation."

Scotland's busiest month was July with 145 incidents. Broughty Ferry lifeboat station near Dundee had the most call-outs. The two lifeboats launched a total of 104 times last year.

The busiest inshore lifeboat was at the Queensferry station near Edinburgh, with 62 "services", during which they helped 117 people which included 13 people under the age of 18.

Around 17% (170) of lifeboat call-outs were the result of machinery failure. More people got into danger because they were cut off by the tide, up from 24 in 2010 to 35 in 2011.

Across the UK and Ireland, RNLI lifeboats launched a total of 8,905 times and rescued 7,976 people during 2011.