TWO people were rescued from a sailing boat in poor and deteriorating conditions after drifting near Arran in the dark for two hours.

Arran RNLI Lifeboat crew were paged to the aid of the vessel without power drifting south of the island at 11.30pm on Tuesday, October 11.

Arran RNLI inshore lifeboat Rachel Hedderwick launched at 11.30pm and made way to the coastline south of Pladda.

After around two hours of searching, the use of multiple parachute flares and with cooperation of both the local and national Coastguard teams, the vessel’s small navigation lights were spotted and the RNLI lifeboat sped to the boat’s aid.

The sea state made boarding extremely difficult for the lifeboat crew, but they persisted and managed to board safely and perform an assessment of the vessel and the crew.

Arran RNLI Helm Martin Wood said: “With conditions worsening as time went on it was a huge relief when we finally located the casualty vessel.

“Also transferring the casualties to the lifeboat it was quite challenging, so we are all very happy with the final outcome.”

With one of the crew suffering badly from sea sickness, the decision was made to evacuate both casualties to the shore aboard the Rachel Hedderwick.

The casualties were transferred to Lamlash and to an awaiting ambulance crew.