Rescue operation launched as person falls overboard from UK Stena Line ferry

A man has been airlifted to hospital after a rescue operation was launched at the port of Loch Ryan, Scotland when a passenger went overboard a Stena Line ferry.

Rescuers were called to the port yesterday (1 July) to respond to reports of someone falling from the Stena Superfast 8 into the water at around 5:30pm as it approached the port.

Søren Lund Hviid / Alamy Stock Photo

The ferry's rescue team was able to recover a person from the water who was then airlifted to Ayr Hospital by the Coastguard.

A spokesperson for the Coastguard issued a statement on the matter, saying: "HM Coastguard was requested to assist the Stena Superfast 8 ferry this evening after a person fell overboard in Loch Ryan.

"The person was recovered from the water by the ferry's fast rescue craft and taken to Ayr Hospital by the Coastguard helicopter. We have no further information at this time."

A spokesperson for Stena Line told LADbible: "Emergency response procedures were initiated, all relevant authorities, including the Coastguard and Police Scotland were informed and a search and rescue operation was launched."

Loch Ryan is a natural harbour on Scotland's west coast which provides space for ferries between Scotland and Northern Ireland, including the Stena Superfast 8 which goes from the Scottish village of Cairnryan to the Northern Irish capital Belfast.

While the area was historically used as a place for shipbreaking to scrap old vessels, it also served a purpose during the Second World War, being a backup port in case bombing of ports on the rivers Mersey and Clyde rendered them inoperable.

It was also one of several sites where US troops landed in the UK to prepare for the D-Day invasion, and it was where German U-Boats operating in the Atlantic went to surrender in 1945 at the end of the war.

David Wood / Alamy Stock Photo

This incident follows a recent one in the Baltic Sea where a mother and son tragically died after the seven-year-old boy fell overboard a passenger ferry from Poland to Sweden.

The child's mother plunged into the water, a distance of around 65 feet, in an attempt to save him and rescue efforts were launched to get them both out of the water.

While they were both airlifted to hospital they were sadly not able to be saved and mother and son both died.

Cases of people falling overboard are rare but when they do occur they can pose a very serious threat to life.

There have been multiple cases of a person going overboard, prompting rescue efforts to save them from the water, where the stricken passenger did not survive.

At other times rescue efforts are successful with people able to get to someone in danger in time to save them.