Six children and an adult have been saved in a dramatic rescue at Broughty Ferry beach. The group were on an inflatable and were caught out by the tide on Tuesday afternoon.
They had started drifting away from the beach when the alarm was raised.
A local lifeguard managed to get to them on his paddleboard before the local lifeboat was called out.
The incident was one of a number of callouts for the team on a busy day for lifesavers.
A RNLI spokesman toldDundee Live: “Broughty Ferry In Shore Lifeboat (D834 - Oor Lifesaver) was launched at the request of Aberdeen Coastguard at 15:44 to reports of 6 children in an inflatable dinghy drifting outwards from Broughty Ferry beach and being taken by the tide up river.
“The ILB launched with 3 crew on board and located all 6 children and 1 adult who were being assisted by one of the RNLI Lifeguards on a paddleboard who had been alerted to the incident whilst on duty further up Broughty Ferry Beach.
“Thankfully, due to the swift reaction of the RNLI Lifeguards Scotland and Lifeboat Crew along with the people on the Beach who had called 999 and requested the coastguard, all 7 people were safely returned to the Beach by the ILB and passed over to HM Coastguard.”
And they added: “This type of inflatable can be very dangerous when used in open waters and tidal rivers where they can very quickly be swept away from a beach or shore into deep, dangerous waters.
“Please be extremely careful when using any type of inflatable at the beach. If you see anyone who looks to be in difficulty or danger, please call 999 and ask for the Coastguard.”
Earlier in the day the crew was called out to reports of two paddleboarders in difficulty about 1.5 miles wes of the Tay Rail Bridge.
It was later confirmed as a false alarm, with both boarders making it safely to shore.
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