Kintyre’s rescue heroes save surfer
SEARCHERS including Campbeltown lifeboat crews and coastguards worked day and night to locate a surfer who disappeared off Westport beach.
The rescue of Matthew Bryce, 22, from Airdrie, 13 miles out in the North Channel, by a coastguard helicopter, at 7.30pm on Monday night, after 32 hours in the sea, made headlines around the world.
Campbeltown lifeboat manager George Bradley said: ‘I got a phone call from one of the crew and you could hear the bounce in his voice when he said, ‘We’ve found him... and he’s alive.’
As the winchman plucked Matthew from the sea off Northern Ireland, the Campbeltown lifeboat under coxswain, David Cox, was just one mile away and later crew members pulled the yellow surfboard from the sea.
Mr Cox said: ‘It was an incredibly large search area, but we were just over a mile away from the casualty when the helicopter found him.
‘The tide was going in a north-westerly direction at about four knots, meaning that every hour, he would have moved four miles.
‘Within an hour or two, he’d have been outside of the search area at the time.
‘We were just sitting off the helicopter when they winched him up, so we went and collected his board from the water.’
Mr Bradley added: ‘When we were tasked at around 1.30pm, we launched the smaller inshore lifeboat at Machrihanish to search the shoreline from there up, while the larger all-weather boat made its way round the Mull searching the coast there.
‘They continued searching in those areas until the coastguard informed us that the search area had been widened.
‘The Islay lifeboat was launched at around 4.00pm.’
Stuart Newlands, Southend Coastguard station officer said:
‘We had 20 officers on foot on beaches in the area gathering information from the public, including other surfers.
‘Four lifeboats were called out: Islay, the inshore and offshore team from Campbeltown and Red Bay.
‘It was a strong easterly to south-easterly off shore wind on Sunday and Monday.’
Speaking on Wednesday, Matthew, who is keen to come and speak to the lifeboat crew and Coastguards when he has recovered, said: ‘I cannot thank those enough who rescued and cared for me – they are all heroes.
‘I am so grateful that I am receiving treatment in hospital.
‘For now, I am not facilitating any interviews as I am exhausted. Please respect the privacy of myself and my family at this time as I recover.’
Dawn Petrie at Belfast Coastguard Operations Centre co-ordinated the search and said: ‘He was kitted out with all the right clothing including a thick neoprene suit and this must have helped him to survive.’
Matthew’s father, John Bryce, said: ‘To get that call from the police last night to say that he was alive was unbelievable – it was better than a lottery win – you just can’t describe it.
‘Our family cannot thank the Coastguard, RNLI volunteers and police officers involved in finding Matthew enough.’