The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Cliff airlift drama as injured teen is trapped by the tide
Major multi-agency rescue after 14-year-old caught in castle gully
A TEENAGE boy had to be airlifted to hospital after being “seriously” injured near a historic Highland castle.
The alarm was raised after reports the 14-year-old was caught in a gully beside Sinclair Castle, near Wick.
With the tide coming in, and the boy apparently trapped, a major rescue operation was launched, with coastguard teams from across the north and north-east arriving on the scene at around 5pm.
Police and ambulance crews joined the operation and, eventually, the boy was taken by helicopter to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary with “serious but not life-threatening” injuries.
A spokesman for HM Coastguard said last night: “Rescue units on scene included the the Wick RNLI all-weather lifeboat and coastguard rescue teams from Wick, Aberdeen, Duncansby, Scrabster and Melvich, along with the coastguard rescue helicopter from Shetland and Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service.”
Police last night confirmed they would be investigating how the incident came to happen.
A spokesman said: “The full circumstances are being investigated.”
A teenage boy was airlifted in a “serious condition” after being injured near a historic Highland castle.
Emergency services descended on Sinclair Castle near Wick yesterday at around 5pm after reports that a 14-year-old had got himself into difficulties and was trapped by an incoming tide.
In a major response,
“The full circumstances are now being investigated”
coastguard teams from Wick, Aberdeen, Duncansby, Scrabster and Melvich along with the coastguard rescue helicopter from Shetland were summoned to the scene along with police and the ambulance service.
Following a major operation, the boy was subsequently airlifted from the gully where he had been trapped and taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
It is understood that the boy might have been a French national.
A statement released by the coastguard last night read: “HM Coastguard is co-ordinating a rescue operation of a 14-year-old stuck in a gully at Sinclair Castle near Wick.
“HM Coastguard was contacted at 5pm this evening about a 14-yearold male in difficulty and trapped in an inaccessible location with an incoming tide.
“Rescue units on scene include the the Wick RNLI all-weather lifeboat and Coastguard rescue teams from Wick, Aberdeen, Duncansby, Scrabster and Melvich along with the Coastguard Rescue Helicopter from Shetland and Police Scotland and Scottish Ambulance service.”
It later transpired that the boy had been rescued and was being taken to hospital with his injuries, following the coordinated response.
A Police Scotland spokesman said the boy had been evacuated by air ambulance.
He said: “We were called to reports that a 14-yearold boy was injured near Sinclair Castle.
“The boy was airlifted by helimed at about 7.13pm.
“His injuries are not life-threatening but serious.
“The full circumstances of the incident are now being investigated.”
The clifftop Sinclair Castle was built between 1476 and 1496 and is considered one of the original ancestral homes of Clan Sinclair.