Passengers rescued from Ayrshire bus trapped in floods

Published 30th Dec 2015

Passengers have been rescued from a bus after it became stuck in flood water as Storm Frank battered Scotland.

Emergency services and a Royal Navy helicopter were called to the scene near Dailly cemetery in South Ayrshire at about 1.35pm on Wednesday.

Police Scotland said ten people have been uplifted from the bus and taken to Girvan Hospital as efforts were ongoing to remove all passengers safely from the vehicle.

Aberdeenshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway bore the brunt of the severe weather which caused disruption to road, rail and ferry services right across the country.

The storm has also left thousands of homes without power and severe floods in its wake.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued a "severe flooding - danger to life" warning for Whitesands in Dumfries and Galloway and for the River Tweed in Peebles in the Borders.

Police, coastguard and ambulance crews are, meanwhile, responding to reports of a missing kayaker on the River Findhorn in Moray.

The Scottish Government's resilience committee has met to assess the response to what environment minister Aileen McLeod described as a "very serious situation''.