Four men were feared adrift off the coast of Caithness for over an hour until rescue teams were stood down. RNLI, coastguard and police units were called to Dunnet Bay at around 12.10am on Saturday, June 24, after concerns of a large unknown object floating in the sea.
Locals reported seeing four men dragging an inflatable hot tub to the beach earlier in the day. RNLI Thurso alongside search teams combed the area using Thermal Binoculars in a desperate search for the men.
The lifeboat discovered the inflatable empty around a half mile from shore. Further investigations revealed the men had been found after abandoning the hot tub and swimming back to shore.
Rescue teams were stood down at 1.30am. Once again, the rescue services have warned the public to take care using inflates at sea after a spate of incidents.
A spokesperson for RNLI Thurso said: "This incident gives the opportunity to remind the public that if they are planning to take to the water, do it in daylight, make sure that they inform someone of their plans, wear personal floating devices, make sure that the floating device is suitable and always make sure you have a way to call for help. RNLI encourage the public to report anything that looks suspicious or could be a danger to shipping to HM Coastguard."
Coxswain Andy Pearson added: "This incident eventually had a positive outcome but there were many things that could have led to a completely different outcome.
"The hot tub which had black tape repairs on its base was taken to the RNLI Station at Scrabster to see if the owner can be traced."
Previously, three people on an inflatable mattress had to be saved in an emergency rescue mission off the coast of Irvine on June 8. In another incident, two people were also blown out to sea on an inflatable near Ardrossan South Beach on June 6.
Police Scotland and the coastguard were contacted for comment by the Record regarding the latest incident.
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