Two young girls who found themselves stranded on rocks off the coast of Dysart have thanked all involved in the rescue that saw them brought safely back to shore.
Katie Dorward (13) and Danielle Gourlay (8), who live in the town, were having such a good time playing on the Partan Craig rocks near the Pan Ha’ area on Thursday afternoon that they didn’t realise the rising tide surrounding them.
Katie said, “We play down there quite a lot we make up games to play around the rocks.
“My mum is always telling me to be careful and we usually are but we were having such a good time and were so wrapped up in our game that we didn’t realise the tide was rising around us.
“By the time we did notice it was quite high up so we started screaming for help.
“We saw one man walking his dog not far from where we were but despite shouting for ages he didn’t seem to hear us.
“We must have been sitting on that rock for 45 minutes with the water splashing up into our faces and we both started to get really scared.
“I tried going in the water at one stage but it was too deep and absolutely freezing so I got back on the rock and we started shouting again.”Cries for helpFortunately for the girls, residents eventually heard their cries for help and local man Glyn Ednie ran down to the shore to calm them while his wife Margaret rang the coastguard and emergency services.
Mr Ednie said, “I initially tried to wade over to them to get to them myself, but the rocks were so slippy and I nearly injured myself, so I stayed put and tried to calm them down until the lifeboat arrived.
“The waves surge through the gap between the rocks and the beach. It really was slippery underfoot under those waves, which meant the rescue was best left to the specialists.”
Impressed by the speed at which the police and ambulance arrived, he added, “As for the lifeboatmen-I just can’t say enough for the volunteer work that these brave men do.”
Katie, a pupil at Viewforth High School in Kirkcaldy, said, “It was a frightening experience I wouldn’t like to go through again and I’ve definitely learned my lesson to take more care when playing near the rocks.
“I would like to thank the lifeboat crew, Mr Ednie and everyone else who helped rescue us including the nine policemen, four RNLI lifeguards and the ambulance workers who checked us over.
“I’m still a bit shocked that we were just playing on some rocks one minute then all that happened and we ended up on the front page of The Courier.”
Danielle, who attends Fair Isle Primary, added, “I want to say thank you too to everyone who helped us.”
Danielle’s grandad, Brian McCallum, who was waiting to welcome her back to shore, having been notified by police, added, “We’re all just glad the girls are both OK they gave everyone a big fright but I think they’ve learned their lesson to take better care when playing near the sea now.”