RESCUERS have launched a safety campaign after new figures revealed 18 people have lost their lives in kayaking or canoeing tragedies around Britain in four years.
The RNLI is urging kayakers to carry functioning safety equipment in the push to save lives as statistics show many of the fatalities was able to call the emergency services using a mobile phone or radio.
Among four victims in one tragedy in the Highlands 2012 were three members of one family.
Grace Mackay, five, Ewen Beaton, 32, and his sons, Ewen, five, and Jamie, two, died in the accident on Loch Gairloch.
It was reported Grace's father Garry Mackay, 35, attempted to swim for help not realising they were wearing buoyancy aids and not lifejackets and so were not held upright in the water.
In Scotland between 2011 to 2015 lifeboats were launched 172 times to kayakers and canoeists, rescuing 61 people and saving 16 lives.
The kayaking safety campaign is urging coastal kayakers and always carry a means of calling for help and to keep it on them at all times while at sea.
The campaigners are calling on kayakers to keep a means of calling for help on them such as a mobile phone in a waterproof case, a VHF radio or Personal Locator Beacon (PLB).
The RNLI is also reminding kayakers to use a life jacket, check weather and tides before they go out and tell someone where they are going and when they expect to be back, as well getting the appropriate training.
Maddy Jennings, junior whitewater slalom canoeist for Scotland and Team GB, is supporting the campaign.
She said: "There are some really simple things you can do to prepare for kayaking trips that can help keep you safe.
"It’s important to keep a means of calling for help in a waterproof and secure place on your body, so if you capsize from your kayak or canoe you have a way to get help.
"It’s just as essential as wearing a personal floatation device and could save your life."
Guy Addington, Community Incident Reduction Manager at the RNLI, added: "The RNLI is running this safety campaign to try and prevent kayakers from getting into the potentially life-threatening situation of being in the water but having no way of calling for help.
"Our lifeboat volunteers and lifeguards are there to help, but we can’t come to the rescue if we don’t know you’re in trouble."
The campaign forms part of the RNLI’s work to halve the number of accidental coastal deaths by 2024.
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