Dunbar family left distraught as lifeboat crews discover beloved dog dead after cliff fall

The pooch was swept into the water after tumbling from cliff edge.

Dog owners in Dunbar were left distraught after their beloved dog fell to its death off an 80ft cliff.

Dunbar RNLI’s inshore lifeboat volunteers raced to the scene at around 4pm after reports that a dog had tumbled off edge of cliffs and into the water. But they were unable to save the pup, which was recovered from the water by coastguard teams from Dunbar and North Berwick.

Inshore lifeboat helm Adrian Lavery said: “This was a very unfortunate accident and our condolences go to the dog’s owners who were understandably distraught.”

RNLI lifeboat crew

Volunteers were also called out later that day to reports of a trawler boat having sunk in Dunbar harbour. The crew were paged again at 8.30pm after a report that a local trawler Spitfire was taking on water, after a creel was accidentally pulled up with its catch, causing damage to the wooden hull.

The inshore lifeboat launched minutes later and came alongside with a salvage pump, which the crew used to stop the Spitfire sinking and enable the 10m vessel’s own pumps to stabilise the boat. Crews remained on standby until high water when the trawler could be moved to a safe berth in the harbour. They were finally stood down shortly after 12am.

Inshore lifeboat helm Alan Blair said: “Luckily, we had a salvage pump in the lifeboat station and were able to start pumping the water within minutes.”