Lifeboats come to the rescue after fisherman takes ill at sea

Arbroath lifeboat crews were scrambled to help an ill sailor in the North Sea last night.

A fishing vessel called the coastguard to report one of their crew had taken ill, 11 miles away from the nearest RNLI station.

Both inshore and all-weather lifeboats went out to meet the trawler and transferred the man to a waiting ambulance at Arbroath harbour.

A spokesman for HM Coastguard said: “The initial call came in at 8.45pm that a fisherman had taken ill on a vessel. “It’s out at the Bass Rock, which is about 11 miles out to sea. “There’s an ambulance waiting to take him away when the lifeboat gets back.”