A THREE-year-old girl has been taken by lifeboat from a tiny Orcadian island for urgent medical treatment after suffering a head injury in a fall.

Stromness Lifeboat was launched at just after 5.50pm yesterday to evacuate the girl from the isle of Graemsay, which has a population of 27.

The lifeboat returned to Stromness Harbour at 6.13pm last night to meet a waiting ambulance. The child was taken to the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall. Her condition was not made public.

Graemsay on the western approaches to Scapa Flow is famous for having two lighthouses, Hoy Sound High and Hoy Sound Low. These were used to guide the herring fleet safely through the difficult waters to harbour in Stromness.

There are no shops nor school on the island. The children go to school on the Orkney Mainland, a 15-minute ferry ride away.