Boy injured in remote island fall

A 13-year-old boy has been flown to hospital after falling into a ravine on an uninhabited island on the west coast of Scotland.

He was one of a party of 13 students on an adventure training expedition on Scarba, south of Oban, Argyll.

The group had been exploring creeks and gullies with two leaders after being landed on the island by boat.

The boy, from Yorkshire, was winched from the ravine and is understood to have sustained a broken leg.

A Royal Navy helicopter was scrambled and Clyde, Oban and Appin Coastguard crews were able to get into the ravine and place the boy in a stretcher and move him to a spot where a line could be used to winch the boy to the aircraft.

He was taken then to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley for treatment.

The boy's parents have been notified and are travelling to Scotland from Yorkshire.

Dan Sellers, Clyde Coastguard watch officer, said: "This was a difficult extraction of the boy from the ravine due to the terrain.

"Our coastguard rescue teams and the rescue helicopter crews are used to working closely together in such circumstances to endeavour to achieve the best possible outcome.

"This was one such incident where both the crew of the aircraft and the coastguard rescue officers should be praised for their professionalism."

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