Rescue whips up storm over 'madness' of closure plans

The Ministry of Defence yesterday dismissed suggestions that proposed cuts would endanger the public after two RAF pilots were plucked from the sea by a closure-threatened rescue team.

The Tornado crew, from RAF Lossiemouth, ejected from the GR4 jet into the sea off the west coast of Scotland on Thursday.

The plane went down into the water at Loch Ewe, near Gairloch, Wester Ross.

The two pilots were airlifted to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness by a Coastguard helicopter, whose station at Stornoway is under threat of closure.

The rescue was co-ordinated from RAF Kinloss, which is to close under the government cuts programme.

The decision was made to close the Moray air base after a new fleet of Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft that would have been based there was also axed.

The SNP defence spokesman at Westminster, Angus Robertson, who is MP for Moray, said cutting and closing Scotland's military and coastguard facilities was "madness" and called on Westminster to "think again".

He said: "This rescue was co- ordinated from a centre at Kinloss which faces closure, involved a rescue helicopter from Stornoway whose station is threatened with closure, and involved a tug boat service which is also being axed."

But an MoD spokesman said: "It is wrong to suggest that the public will be at risk under future arrangements of search and rescue. No decision has yet been made."

The crash happened during a visit to RAF Kinloss by Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey. He also visited RAF Lossiemouth, also under threat of closure.

A Mayday request was sent to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency from Kinloss at 2:43pm.The agency said two people and two life rafts were found in the water. The pilots were winched on to the helicopter and taken to hospital. It is not known what caused the plane to crash.

Stornoway Coastguard said lifeboats picked up hand-size parts of the plane from the sea.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch said last night it had not been asked to help with the investigation. The MoD would be leading the probe as the crash involved a military aircraft.

The airmen were still in hospital yesterday, but it was hoped they would be released today.

A spokeswoman said a full investigation into what caused the crash would be undertaken, but was unable to comment further.