Men Rescued Off Fife Coast

Kinghorn RNLI lifeboat rescues five from sinking dinghy.

Kinghorn RNLI Lifeboat crew rescued five men from an inflatable dinghy off Pettycur on Monday evening.

The inflatable boat had launched from Pettycur beach with five males, all aged between 15 and 20. The vessel was quickly blown offshore. A member of the public on the shore called 999 and alerted the Coastguard who requested the launch of 
Kinghorn lifeboat at 5.51pm.

The volunteer lifeboat crew launched around six minutes after being paged, and found the dinghy soon after.

Helm Leanne Fisher recounted the incident:

"We were quickly on scene after launch, and found the inflatable around 200m offshore. We quickly recovered the five 
passengers and the inflatable onto the lifeboat. We returned them to Pettycur beach after giving them some safety advice.

"The boat was inflatable and seemed more suited to sheltered inland waters. The paddles were very small and the occupants had found it difficult to control the vessel in the conditions. 

"We would always recommend that boat users take a vessel suited to the conditions and water type and that all crew have suitable lifejackets and a means of summoning assistance.

"The RNLI's website has extensive sea safety advice available free of charge, and volunteer sea safety officers can also come and visit you to talk about sea safety and assess your vessel and equipment."

The volunteer lifeboat crew then returned to Kinghorn at 6.35pm before relaunching on a pre-planned exercise.