A foreign angler has been plucked to safety by helicopter from an island in the centre of a swollen Angus salmon river.
The lone fisherman sparked a major rescue operation involving emergency services from both sides of the Angus/Aberdeenshire border after becoming marooned just upstream of the A92 Lower Northwaterbridge crossing over the River North Esk at Kinnaber, just north of Montrose, on Monday evening.
Almost two hours after the alarm was initially raised, the tourist was winched to the bank of the rapidly-rising spate river. But the ill-equipped man was criticised for not wearing a life-jacket or having any means of emergency communication in conditions which a senior coastguard officer said would almost certainly have cost him his life if he had fallen into the raging waters.
The drama was sparked shortly after 6pm when it is understood a friend of the man raised the alarm with police. The angler, believed to be Danish, is thought to have waded out to the island, 50 yards upstream of the road bridge, earlier in the day.
Grampian Fire and rescue units from Laurencekirk and Stonehaven attended and were joined by Tayside Fire and Rescue from Montrose, as well as fast water rescue teams from Dundee and Perth.
Coastguard units from Montrose and Stonehaven were also at the centre of the operation and coastguard sector manager Ross Greenhill said the incident had presented a number of challenges for rescuers.
”The man had gone out earlier in the day but did not have a method of communication with him and his lack of English did prove to be a slight issue,” he said.
”Over the time that the incident took place the river had risen by around 11cm and that is quite substantial it’s not unknown for the island to be overcome,” he added.
A helicopter from RAF Boulmer was tasked early in the operation with the intention of winching the man off the island.
”We also made a risk assessment and decided to put a rescue swimmer into the water to gauge how fast the river was. The result of that was that we didn’t feel it was appropriate to bring him over by river,” added Mr Greenhill.
Within minutes of that decision being taken the helicopter arrived and he was winched to safety and allowed to leave the scene having been checked over by paramedics.
The A92 road bridge was also closed for around an hour after an inflated hose was put down to the river to catch the man in the event that he was swept into the North Esk. Coastguard rescue technicians with throw lines were also positioned on the bank.
Mr Greenhill added: ”He was not running out of space on the island, but it was becoming more risky for him and there was always the chance he could put a foot wrong and end up in the river.
”Given the fact that he had no lifejacket he certainly wasn’t equipped appropriately and had he tried to come back over the river he most certainly would have failed.”