Two children rescued by lifeboat after inflatable boat blown out to sea

Two children had to be rescued by lifeboat on Saturday after the wind pushed their inflatable kayak out to sea.

The alarm was raised by an adult on the shore, who spotted the boy and girl, thought to be in their early teens, in difficulty in the Moray Firth, northeast Scotland.

The offshore breeze had pushed the inflatable two-person kayak out to sea, leaving the young kayakers unable to paddle back to shore, the RNLI said.

When the RNLI lifeboat arrived on the scene at 3:27pm, the kayak was about 2km out at sea and a coastguard helicopter from Inverness was hovering overhead.

The children were brought aboard the lifeboat by crew members Rob Smith and Kyle Park, along with the inflatable kayak.

They were then taken to Portsoy harbour in Aberdeenshire where they were handed over to members of the local coastguard station.

A paramedic from the helicopter was winched down on to the harbour to provide medical assistance should it be needed, however the kayakers were thought to be alright apart from being cold and wet.

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