Injured canoeist rescued from cave near Plockton

A CANOEIST survived a night injured in a remote shoreline cave after falling inside.

The rescued canoeist being transferred to the lifeboat. Picture: hemedia

The man suffered a suspected broken ankle and only managed to raise the alarm by crawling out the following morning and getting a mobile phone reception.

The 41-year-old old local man had gone inside the cave to the east of Duncraig Castle at Plockton in Wester Ross at about 8pm on Friday.

A spokesman for Stornoway Coastguard said: “There was a ladder inside the cave and he fell about 10ft, injuring his leg,

“He tried using his VHF radio to raise the alarm but it would not work inside the cave. So in the morning he managed to crawl out and raise the alarm using his mobile phone.

“He is a lucky man.”

Kyle Inshore Lifeboat and Kyle and Portree coastguard rescue teams were sent to the scene and found him at 8.15am on Saturday.

Kyle lifeboat spokesman Andrew MacDonald, who was on the rescue said:”His ankle appeared broken and he was suffering from the cold.

“The cave is well known to canoeists and kayakers, because they can see it from the sea. But it is above the waterline.

“In fact somebody used to live in it several years ago. He couldn’t even use his mobile phone inside - even though he was below a mast.

“He had to crawl out, which must have been painful. He was found by a coastguard team member and we strapped him up. He was cold and his ankle looked broken.

“Other than that, he was OK. He was very lucky.”

The crew took the injured man to Plocktonand he was taken to the Dr MacKinnon Memorial Hospital at Broadford on Skye.