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Boat towed to shore after breakdown near whirlpool

Carroll Pierce/Geograph Swirling waters of a whirlpool on a slightly choppy blue sea. It is a bright sunny day with blue skies. A rocky shore can be seen in the distance. Carroll Pierce/Geograph
The Corryvreckan whirlpool is one of the largest whirlpools in the world

A boat with one person on board has been towed to safety after breaking down near the Corryvreckan whirlpool in Argyll and Bute.

The Oban RNLI lifeboat was called to the scene when the alarm was raised at about 19:00 on Monday.

The Coastguard said it towed the vessel to Oban and arrived at about 22:00. The person on board was said to be safe and well after the incident.

The Corryvreckan whirlpool, between the islands of Jura and Scarba in the Inner Hebrides, is one of the largest whirlpools in the world and considered highly dangerous.

Its currents can reach more than 10 knots at full strength.

There was a concern that the vessel could have been pulled towards it depending on the tides.

The Corryvreckan whirlpool forms when tides from the east and west of Jura meet off the northernmost tip of the island, and an underwater basalt pillar called The Old Hag forces the water upwards, causing it to smash off the sides of the channel.

It almost claimed the life of writer George Orwell and his son after their boat capsized while he was staying on Jura writing his dystopian novel 1984 in the 1940s.

However, they managed to reach a small, rocky island and were rescued by a passing lobster fisherman.