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MOBILE PHONE TO THE RESCUE

A MOBILE phone was used to raise the alarm when a small boat carrying a party of anglers got into difficulties in Lochryan on Thursday.

A 999 call to the Coastguard had the rescue services in action and the boat, containing four men, was towed back to Wig Bay from where it had started out earlier in the day by Stranraer Inshore Life-Boat.

The four, from Easterhouse in Glasgow, planned to fish for mackerel but were not far out into the loch when they had problems with a gear linkage between the engine and the propeller.

One of the men on board, Robert Brown, told the Free Press

"It was quite calm when we set out. We spent some time trying to get the boat going again and the wind got up.

"One of the lads used his mobile phone to dial 999 and ask the Coastguard for help".

He said the boat was kept at Stranraer and thought children had been playing with it, causing the problem.