Rig crew turn Guardian angels in North Sea rescue

摘要

North Sea rig workers and a lifeboat crew teamed up to rescue two men who were found clinging to the anchor chain of a semi-submersible rig off Scotland late last week after getting caught in a tidal drift. The friends - one swimmer and a kayaker - got into difficulty after setting off from Invergordon in the Cromarty Firth on 7 August. They managed to scramble to the anchor chain of Well-Safe Solutions' semisub Well-Safe Guardian, where they were noticed by crew of the Marshall Islands-flagged unit. The crew notified the Invergordon RNLI lifeboat service who sped to the rig in the Trent-class lifeboat Douglas Aikman Smith, with a Coastguard search and rescue helicopter also scrambling. Invergordon RNLI said the lifeboat's small XP craft was manoeuvred into position to allow crew to pull the men from the water. Once on board the lifeboat the two friends were medically assessed. Despite the freezing water they were unharmed.