DUNBAR'S RNLI lifeboat crew has been called out four times in just five days.

The volunteer crew, based at the town's harbour, was called out four times to a variety of incidents last Wednesday morning.

The first call came after a fishing boat had become tail tied five miles off the Dunbar coast.

The crew made the six-mile journey from the station to Torness and quickly launched the all-weather lifeboat and headed towards the casualty, who was five miles north-east of the town's harbour, after being paged by Aberdeen Coastguard at about 7.50am.

Once on scene, a tow was quickly passed over to the fishing vessel and the journey back to Dunbar harbour got under way.

Due to the state of tide at the time the lifeboat reached Dunbar, it was not possible to enter with the fishing vessel in tow, so had to proceed towing the vessel along the coast until such a time it was safe to enter the harbour.

After towing for a couple of hours, it was deemed safe to attempt entry into the harbour where Dunbar coastguard team were on hand to assist on tying the vessel up safely. 

Then, on Friday evening at about 8pm, they were paged after reports of a red distress flare being spotted east of Torness, near Cove.

The inshore lifeboat responded and carried out an extensive search of the shoreline and coastal area but was unable to find anything untoward.

Less than 24 hours later, the crew was called out again after two kayakers were spotted in trouble near Belhaven Bay.

The alarm was raised when a member of the public spotted two women in the water struggling with their kayaks shortly after 5pm. 

The ILB was again launched and by the time the crew was on scene one woman had managed to get back on her kayak but the other was having difficulty amid the rocks, off shore from Winterfield Golf Course.

Two of the crew entered the water to help the women into the lifeboat. 

The women were then rushed to Dunbar Harbour where they were checked over by ambulance staff, where they were found to have no serious injury.

The kayaks were also recovered and returned to the harbour.

Although both women were well equipped, Dunbar coxswain Gary Fairbairn said the incident highlighted the importance of the RNLI's Respect the Water campaign and in particular the ability to raise the alarm when in trouble.

He said: "We want people to enjoy the water but when things go wrong it's very important to be able to raise the alarm. 

“In this case a member of the public spotted the danger and we were able to respond.

“However, we urge all kayakers to prepare for every eventuality and call for help if in trouble."

One of the kayakers also took to social media to thank the RNLI volunteers for their prompt response.

She said: “We would just like to say thank you to whoever called the RNLI.

“It goes without saying the biggest thanks ever to the RNLI boys who were absolutely incredible – thank you guys.”

Finally, on Sunday afternoon at about 4pm the crew were called out after two women were stranded by the tide at Belhaven Bay.

The ILB was launched and was on scene within minutes, with the crew finding the two people stuck on a small island that had not been submerged at high tide. 

Both were taken by lifeboat to the shore, where they were met by Coastguards and police and were reunited with other members of their party who had also been cut off but had managed to walk back to their car at John Muir Country Park.