Dermot Murnaghan presents more accounts of life-threatening emergencies and daring rescues. Combining testimonies from those involved with reconstructions and genuine footage, each edition tells the stories behind Britain’s most extraordinary acts of bravery. This week’s instalment features a yacht caught in a storm off the coast of Scotland; and a digger driver who became trapped underwater when his machine slipped into a lake.

In June 2006, the Vijara yacht was participating in the Round-Britain race – a 2,000-mile course for sailing enthusiasts. The third leg of this race takes yachts around the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland, where rocky outcrops and sandbars make for treacherous conditions. Huib Swets, the Dutch skipper of the Vijara, was negotiating this stretch of water with his co-skipper when a massive storm struck. After battling against the elements for some time, Huib decided to shorten sail and take a break below deck.

Huib was awoken by an almighty crash. His yacht had ‘pitchpoled’ – risen with a huge wave, flipped over 180 degrees and crashed back into the water. “It was chaos, absolute chaos,” recalls Huib. Blood was pouring from a gash on his head, while his co-skipper had been knocked unconscious. Worse still, the hull of the yacht was breaking free of the frame. Huib made an emergency call and the RNLI crew at nearby Castlebay was scrambled.

When they received the call, Angus MacNeil, Donald MacLeod and the rest of the RNLI crew knew that they had to act quickly. As they set out towards the Vijara, huge waves and high winds battered their ship, meaning that progress was frustratingly slow. “The longer it took to get to him, you could hear more urgency in his voice,” says Angus. The crew eventually made visual contact with the Vijara two hours after the call was made. “It was a very exciting moment,” recalls Huib.

However, before the rescuers could act to secure the yacht, their own boat was hit by a huge wave and capsized. Though it righted itself fairly quickly, precious moments were lost – and the Vijara was becoming ever more unstable. Unable to attach a tow rope to the yacht, Angus and Donald told Huib to use a small storm sail, then guided him on a safe course back to shore.

Thanks to the quick thinking and local knowledge of the RNLI volunteers, the Vijara managed to hold together long enough to take its two-man crew to safety. “We are very grateful to them,” says Huib. “We are connected for the rest of our lives.”

The next story this week takes place in Dorney Lake near Eton, where work is underway to build rowing facilities for the 2012 Olympics. Eddie Randtoul was edging towards the middle of the lake to excavate rubble when his 60-tonne digger suddenly slipped down the bank and overturned. Eddie was trapped in the cab, which quickly filled with water. “I knew I was going to die,” he recalls.

Nearby, schoolteacher Michael Righton was coaching the rowing team when one of his students alerted him to what had just happened. “It occurred to me... that whoever was in that digger was not coming out,” recalls Michael. He swam out to the vehicle and attemped to break the glass with his feet. Eventually, using a hammer thrown to him by a passing member of the public, he managed to smash the glass and drag Eddie from the cab.

By this stage, Eddie had been underwater for eight minutes and was unconscious. “I thought, ‘this guy’s dead’,” says Michael. Struggling to keep Eddie’s head above water, Michael performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, before dragging his charge to the shore. Incredibly, Eddie survived the ordeal – partly thanks to the extremely cold water that slowed down his heart beat, but mainly down to the bravery of one man. “He’s a miracle to me,” says Eddie of his saviour.

Also featured this week is the story of an offduty fireman trapped inside a burning house; and that of a cyclist stuck at the bottom of a ravine.