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Twelve people stranded by rising tide        19/4/11

A group of tourists exploring the North Uist moorland were cut off by the exceptionally high tides in North Uist last night.

The party of 12 - including six children - were rescued by coastguard shore teams after being marooned on the southern shore of Loch Eport - a long indented sea loch puncuated with small islets and many side lochs on the east coast of North Uist.

They walked further out than expected and on their around 7.50pm discovered a crossing point in a river was now covered by the rising tide.

They had to walk a mile back to get a mobile signal to summon help.

As darkness fell, coastguard rescue teams fro Grimsay, Lochmaddy and Lochboisdale rigged up a guide rope over underwater stepping stones and safely rescued the group.

The very high tides being experienced this week means that shallow areas are rapidly covered by the incoming sea.