Cliff rescue drama

A COMMUNITY event involving the emergency services at Scrabster on Sunday turned into a real-life drama when a man was rescued after falling from a nearby cliff.

The event, billed as RNLI Fun Day, was a joint operation involving all the local emergency services. Close to the time it was about to start a call was received by the coastguard from a member of the public at 11.22am saying a man was lying on the foreshore at Neb Point below the Pennyland Mausoleum on Victoria Walk.

It is believed the man may have fallen from the 60ft cliff several hours earlier.

Mustering together for the public event at Scrabster on the opposite side of the bay, the emergency services sprang into action with a mix of lifeboat, coastguard, police, fire and ambulance attending to the casualty in record time. Coastguard teams from Melvich, Wick, Duncansby and Scrabster joined forces to scale the cliff and attend to the casualty with a paramedic.

The man, named locally as Douglas Wilkie, was eventually winched aboard Shetland's coastguard helicopter at around 12.30pm and taken to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness.

He was said to be conscious and suffering from head and other injuries and the suspected onset of hypothermia.

Several members of the public who were attending the RNLI Fun Day initially believed the rescue operation was part of a staged exercise.

One unnamed man said that though he could see the event through his binoculars he thought "they should have had it a wee bitty closer to Scrabster so folk could see it better" before he was told it was "the real thing" by one of the emergency services personnel at the fun day. On Monday a police spokesman said Thurso officers were carrying out enquiries and appealing for witnesses.

The spokesman stated: "A 33-year-old was found by the shoreline below Victoria Walk, which runs along the cliff-top between Thurso and Scrabster, shortly before 11.30am.

"Various personnel from the emergency services attended and the man was airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness by the HM Coastguard helicopter."

The casualty's injuries are described as serious but are not believed to be life-threatening.

Officers are carrying out enquiries to establish the full circumstances and are appealing to anyone who was in the area between 8.45am and 11.15am to make contact.

One source suggests that the man may have lain undiscovered for a number of hours before being spotted. Victoria Walk has been the scene of a number of falls which have led to deaths and serious injuries. Detective Inspector Richard Baird said: "We are working to establish how this man came to be injured and I would urge anyone who may be able to help us to get in touch as soon as possible.

"We are particularly keen to speak to three cyclists who we believe may have used the cliff-top path from the nearby caravan park in case they saw anything.

"If you have any information you feel could be useful, you can call Police Scotland on 101, using reference NJ2507/18, or you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111."

After the casualty had been safely removed many of the personnel involved in the rescue returned to the fun day event.