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The man had to hold out for around 90 minutes.
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A person tried to reach a Scottish island on an inflatable mattress - and his life was in acute danger. After around 90 minutes in the cold sea, he was rescued by sea rescuers.
An extraordinary rescue operation took place off the east coast of Scotland on Sunday. A person tried to reach an island with an inflatable mattress - and drifted further and further out to sea.
The crew of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Queensferry Rescue Station was alerted at around 9.18 am. The person was in water around seven degrees Celsius to the east of Cramond Island in the Firth of Forth.
When the rescue services arrived, the casualty had already been in the water for almost 90 minutes. The crew was able to rescue the person and hand him over to paramedics and the coastguard on land. The organization did not provide any information on the state of health, but confirmed severe hypothermia.
According to the rescue workers, the operation could have ended fatally. Head of Operations Stewart Atkinson said: "It was lucky we got there in time. The person was extremely cold and was being pushed further and further out by the current and the offshore wind."
Atkinson used the incident to issue a stark warning. Inflatable mattresses and bathing articles are "made for pools - not for the sea". They could quickly move away from the shore and put people in life-threatening situations.
He also advised people to always check the weather and tide forecasts before engaging in water-based activities. "Everything can seem calm near the coast, while conditions further out are much worse," said Atkinson. In an emergency, the emergency number should be called immediately and the coastguard alerted.
