Man dies and another left hospitalised after boat capsizes near Scottish island

A MAN has died and another is in hospital after their dinghy capsized near a Scottish island.

The pair managed to reach the shore of the island of Sanday after the incident off Orkney and called emergency services at about 7.30pm on Sunday.

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A Coastguard helicopter was sent to the scene and airlifted one man to Balfour Hospital in Orkney, where he later died.

The other was flown to Gilbert Bain Hospital in Shetland, where his condition is not thought to be life-threatening.

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A spokesman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said: "A 999 call was received by the UK Coastguard at 7.30 pm on Sunday September 4 reporting that a dinghy had capsized and that two dinghy sailors had made it to shore at Otters Wick, Sanday, Orkney Islands.

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"Sanday Coastguard Rescue Team were sent to the scene and located and assessed the two dinghy sailors.

"The Coastguard helicopter based at Sumburgh was scrambled and airlifted the two men to hospital."

Last week, a 17-year-old boy died in a dinghy accident in Sunderland.

Liam Hall was pulled from the water at the mouth of the River Wear after getting into difficulty while out in a dinghy with three friends.

Two families were swept out to sea at opposite ends of the country last month, prompting coastguard warnings.

On August 19, Rudy Bruynius, his wife Lisinda and their two-year-old daughter Mckayla were swept out to sea by a large wave at Fistral Beach in Cornwall - while Julie Walker, 37, and her son Lucas, six, from Aberdeen, died a day later after getting into difficulties in the water off the city's beach.

On Camber Sands on August 24 - the hottest day of the year so far - five young people died and just days later a man died while scuba diving with his partner's 12-year-old daughter near St Austell, Cornwall.