Lifeboat crew use first aid skills to help men in storm
09/09/2010
A lifeboat crew used their first aid skills to help two men who had a lucky escape when their van was battered by a storm raging in Arbroath.
The van was on the road alongside the breakwater of the town's outer harbour when it was struck by a mass of water crashing over the sea wall on Tuesday 7 September.
The force of the water shattered the windscreen, caused significant damage to the bodywork and roof, and also spun the van through 90º. The two occupants escaped through the smashed window.
However, as the waves continued to crash over the sea wall around them, they were forced to seek refuge on a pier used by crab and lobster fishermen to store creels.
Fortunately, Allan Russell, the RNLI’s full-time Mechanic at Arbroath, saw the men’s dangerous situation. He said: ‘I looked out of the window from the lifeboat station at around 1.30pm and I saw them driving on to the pier. I couldn’t believe they were going down there in such poor weather conditions.
‘A huge 6m wave came over and battered the van, knocking it sideways. The whole side of the van was caved in and the windshield exploded.’
The volunteer crew were paged although the conditions were so bad that the inshore lifeboat would only have been launched as a last resort. The skipper of the local creel boat Pathfinder offered to assist. He picked up the two men and transferred them to the oil pier.
The lifeboat crew were waiting to help and Mr Russell and lifeboat Coxswain Tommy Yule dressed one man's wounds, and other crew members ensured he was kept as warm and dry as possible while they waited for an ambulance to arrive to take him to Arbroath Infirmary.
Meanwhile the van was swept into the water by one huge wave. It was later recovered by a crane.
