Two fishermen were rescued this afternoon after their boat sank in the Western Isles.
Shortly after 3pm the UK Coastguard received a faint and broken mayday call from the crew, who were close to the shore west of Carloway, on the Isle of Lewis.
The crew members gave their position to the coastguard just before abandoning the 20ft vessel to a life raft.
A coastguard search and rescue helicopter was sent to the scene along with the Stornoway, Ness and Breasclete ground teams.
The two crew members were airflited to Stornoway airfield where they were met by an ambulance for medical attention.
Both crew members were taken to the Western Isles Hospital in Stornoway.
UK Coastguard duty controller Angus MacIver said: “It would appear that the fishermen’s vessel sank very quickly, and we were very lucky that they managed to give us their exact position before they abandoned their vessel.
‘The helicopter arrived on scene within minutes and was able to locate and rescue the two men from a remote area on the west. Despite their ordeal, it would appear that they are in relatively good health but they have been taken to hospital by ambulance as a precautionary measure.
“We are in the process of establishing what occurred to the vessel and will monitor the debris of the boat in case it washes ashore. We have also notified our Counter Pollution team of possible fuel being lost from the vessel and Police Scotland are also aware of the incident.”