Lifeboat crew scrambled to Holy Island after man took ill

Seahouses all-weather lifeboat was launched at 2.05am on Monday to prepare to take a North East Ambulance Service crew from the mainland to Holy Island to treat an ill man, which was not coronavirus related.

The alert came just half an hour before high tide.

However, further information was then received from North East Ambulance Service, via UK Coastguard, that a doctor on the island was attending the man, whose condition had improved, and the ambulance was cancelled.

Lifeboat operations manager Ian Clayton said: “On this occasion the RNLI were not required. A fully crewed lifeboat was quickly launched by full complement of shore crew, all of whom were on station with minutes of being paged, despite the hour of the day.”