Four rescued clinging to hull of dinghy which capsized during fishing trip

Four people have been rescued after their dinghy capsized and they were left clinging to its upturned hull.

A passing yacht spotted the group in difficulty north of the isle of Lismore in Argyll and Bute at 7.15pm on Saturday evening and raised the alarm, the coastguard said.

The four people were not wearing lifejackets and had been unable to call for help as they had no radio and their phones were submerged underwater.

Oban RNLI all-weather lifeboat went to the scene and rescued the three men and one woman. She was hypothermic by that stage after about 30 minutes in the water.

The R199 coastguard helicopter from Prestwick also went to the scene and a paramedic was winched down to check the four people over before deeming they were fit to travel to Oban by lifeboat.

A coastguard spokesman said: “They had rowed out fishing but their vessel tipped over and they ended up in the water.

“They were not that far offshore but they could not make it back and were desperately clinging to the upturned dinghy.

“It was lucky the yacht came by when it did otherwise it could have been a different outcome.”

The capsized vessel was a 14ft fibreglass dinghy.

One of the men suffered a knock to the head during the incident and the woman was hypothermic.

They were back on the mainland by 9.20pm and were then passed into the care of the Scottish Ambulance Service.