Thurso lifeboat callout

Holidaymakers in island cave emergency

TOURISTS on a sea trip found themselves marooned in a cave on the uninhabited island of Stroma.
It happened after their vessel,the North Coast Explorer, broke down inside The Gloup, as the cave is known, yesterday. The rigid inflatable boat, which carries a crew of two, entered the cave without any difficulty but was unable to reverse.
Passengers and crew clambered onto rocks at the entrance to the cave and were picked up by the lifeboat’s small inflatable and taken back to John O’ Groats.
The North Coast Explorer was not recovered. It had been pushed further into the cave by the swell and it was not deemed safe to try to retrieve it.