A woman who was dramatically rescued from the waters of the Forth is lucky to be alive, the crew of the local lifeboat has said.
The sailor was experiencing the onset of hypothermia when she was pulled from the water by members of Kinghorn RNLI on Saturday morning.
The woman, from West Lothian, had been one of three people on board a small dinghy sailing south of Inchkeith when she fell overboard.
Unable to clamber back on to her vessel, lifeboat crews were scrambled to discover the crewmember clinging to the side of dinghy.
Scott McIlravie, helmsman of the Kinghorn lifeboat, said that their quick intervention had been crucial in saving the woman.
“Communications between us and the casualty were difficult, although they thankfully had a VHF radio on board so we were able to use our direction finding equipment to quickly locate the boat.
“We quickly assessed the situation on arrival and found a female in the water clinging to the back of the dinghy.
“One of our team jumped into the water to get hold of her, and she was then brought to safety on the lifeboat.”
As well as the woman in the water, a young girl had been on board the small vessel and had also been affected by the cold conditions out on the estuary.
Both were taken by the lifeboat to Kinghorn for a medical check.
Mr McIlravie added: “It was fortunate that this vessel had a VHF radio on board today.
“There was very little chance that the woman would have got back on board the dinghy today without third party assistance.
“Since the vessel was able to call for assistance immediately, and we were then able to find the boat quickly, this lady fortunately had a very lucky escape.”
The rescue comes days after a fishing boat tragedy off East Wemyss apparently claimed three lives.
Local man Birrell Stewart died after the 10-foot vessel he was in capsized on Monday afternoon, while there has been no trace as yet of his friends David Stead, 47, and Jason Buchan, 35, who were also on board.