Lucky escape for boy stuck in dinghy on reservoir

A FATHER and his two children had a lucky escape after an afternoon having fun on an inflatable dinghy went badly wrong.

It is understood that the 45-year-old man had been taking his five-year-old son and eight-year-old daughter out in the dinghy, one at a time, at Threipmuir Reservoir in Balerno yesterday afternoon when the wind blew the dinghy into the middle of the water with his son onboard.

John Adams, 69, from Blackhall, who was fishing at the time, said: “There was a chap taking his two young children out on an inflatable dinghy one at a time. I think it was just the boy who was in the dinghy when the wind caught it and blew it away into the middle of the loch, and the chap panicked a bit. I came down to see what I could do but by that time the wind had carried the dinghy quite close to one of the banks again and he was able to wade out and bring the thing in.”

Firefighters assisted paramedics to administer first aid at the scene.

A spokeswoman for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said the family were suffering from mild hypothermia and attended the Royal Infirmary. The incident happened at around 2.30pm.