Angler dies after fall into sea

A pensioner who fell into the sea while fishing has died, police have confirmed.

The 79-year-old was angling off Harris, in the Western Isles, when it is thought he waded into the water to fix a problem with his fishing gear.

Stornoway Coastguard was alerted to the incident, south of Tarbert, at about 1915 BST on Monday and a rescue team and an ambulance were sent.

When he was recovered from the water his condition was said to be serious.

He was airlifted by a Maritime and Coastguard helicopter to Western Isles Hospital, in Stornoway, on Lewis.

Fisherman 'devastated' over death

Mr Livingstone died after his boat sank in the Firth of Forth

A fisherman who swam for three hours in a desperate bid to save his friend after their boat sank has said he is "absolutely devastated" at his death.

Mike Mosley, 42, said the thought of his wife and daughter kept him going as he struggled towards shore after the accident in the Firth of Forth.

Jack Livingstone, 51, of Methilhill, Fife, died after the 18ft Dory sank on Saturday morning in choppy conditions.

Mr Mosley alerted rescuers after having swam about three quarters of a mile.

A search operation was launched and Mr Livingstone was found at about 1400 BST and airlifted to hospital in Kirkcaldy, but died a short time later.

Mr Mosley, from Windygates, Fife, said: "I am absolutely devastated at the loss of Jack who was a great friend to me.

I headed for shore all the time thinking I had to make it for my wife and daughter and to get help for Jack

Mike Mosley

"One of my biggest regrets is that we didn't have life jackets and I just hope that other people will learn from this tragic accident the importance of safety equipment."

Mr Mosley said he and his friend left Methil docks in Fife about 0730 BST on Saturday for a spot of fishing.

As the morning progressed, they noticed that the only other fishing boat was heading in so Mr Mosley suggested they do the same as the sea started to get rough.

As they headed inland the boat started to take in water but Mr Mosley was able to pump out the water manually.

'Creel buoy'

He said: "Without warning a large wave hit the stern of the boat and Jack headed towards me to help me bail out.

"As he did so, the combined weight of us both caused the stern to submerge and within a matter of seconds the whole of the boat was submerged.

"I helped Jack to reach a creel buoy and told him to keep hold of that while I swam for help.

"I headed for shore all the time thinking I had to make it for my wife and daughter and to get help for Jack."

He said he swam for about 200 yards but was finding conditions difficult and got hold of a creel buoy.

After about 45 minutes, he managed to detach the buoy from the rope and used it to keep himself afloat.

He eventually reached shore after three hours in the water and raised the alarm.

The search operation, co-ordinated by Forth Coastguard, involved a number of vessels in the Forth, RNLI lifeboats from Kinghorn and Anstruther, and a search and rescue helicopter from RAF Boulmer.

Mr Mosley was treated for mild hypothermia and exhaustion and later released from hospital.

Mr Livingstone, a painter and decorator, had one grown-up daughter.

Missing tug men search called off

The hull of the sunken tug became visible at low tide

Rescue footage

The search for three crew members feared dead after a tug capsized in heavy fog on the River Clyde has been called off for the night.

The men are boat skipper Stephen Humphreys, 33, engineer Robert Cameron, 65, and crew member Eric Blackley, 57. All live in the west of Scotland.

A fourth man, aged 37, was pulled out of the river after being spotted in the water and was taken to hospital.

Clyde Coastguard said the search will resume at first light on Friday.

The Flying Phantom tug ran aground while towing a ship and capsized near Clydebank at 1810 GMT on Wednesday.

Rescue efforts for the remaining three crew members had been hampered by thick fog, with visibility at just 15m.

We still have no idea what went wrong and I would not like to speculate on the cause of this incident

Ian Plater
Clyde Coastguard

Local reaction to tragedy

Tugs born and bred on Clyde

The temperature in the river fell to only 2.5C and survival time in the water, which has a depth of about 10m, was said to be between two-and-a-half and three hours.

Insp Louis Jeffrey, of Strathclyde Police, said earlier on Thursday that the search was now a recovery operation rather than a rescue.

He said: "Given the passage of time, the operation is now being treated as a recovery operation for practical policing purposes."

Mr Humphreys is from Greenock and Mr Blackley from Gourock, both Inverclyde. Mr Cameron is from Houston, in Renfrewshire.

Eric Blackley, Stephen Humphreys and Robert Cameron are missing

Two orange buoys marked the location of the sunken tug on the river near the former John Brown shipyard, close to the mouth of the River Cart.

Tugs and smaller vessels, including Glasgow City Council's St Mungo boat that normally cleans the river, searched in the shadow of the Titan crane.

Police officers in fluorescent jackets could be seen searching both sides of the river bank on Thursday while divers carried out a fingertip search of the tug in almost total darkness.

Clyde Coastguard sector manager Ian Plater confirmed that a number of vessels had resumed the search shortly after 0700 GMT on Thursday.

'Recovery phase'

He said: "Most of the units who took part in the search on Wednesday night came back at first light this morning.

"We are still in a recovery phase and we have deployed search teams up and down the river banks.

"We still have no idea what went wrong and I would not like to speculate on the cause of this incident."

Mr Plater said weather conditions on Thursday were "slightly better today but still extremely cold".

"Last night at midnight the water was just two degrees above freezing. It's probably not much more above that now," he added.

"We've far exceeded the survival time of anybody that was in the water last night. But with search and rescue we never say never."

The section of the river where the tug capsized has been closed to commercial shipping.

Flying Phantom towing the QE2 up the Clyde in September

The Flying Phantom helped tow the QE2 on the Clyde in September

Rescuers said a helicopter was unlikely to be drafted in to help with the search because of foggy conditions and the area's proximity to Glasgow Airport.

The alarm was raised when two community safety officers, Brian Torrie and Charlie Ayre, heard the fourth crew member shouting for help from the water and dialled 999.

Four coastguard rescue teams, three RNLI lifeboats and other boats joined the search along with Royal Navy and Strathclyde Police divers and Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.

The crewman who managed to swim for shore was rescued from the water by a passing boat and taken to the Western Infirmary in Glasgow for treatment, where his condition was described as "comfortable."

The Flying Phantom, which is owned by Danish firm Svitzer and based at Greenock, was on towing the Panama-registered bulk carrier Red Jasmine along with two other Svitzer tugs, the Mallaig and Warrior III.

It is understood no mayday call was sent out. The tug went down beside Rothesay Dock, near Clydebank College.

We are maintaining constant contact with the families of all four crew members and keeping them informed of all developments

James Curry
Svitzer managing director

A spokesman for port operators Clydeport said: "As part of normal procedure a full assessment, including examination of a detailed weather forecast, was undertaken prior to the movement of the Red Jasmine upriver."

The 124ft Flying Phantom was built in 1981 and has been operated by Svitzer since 2001.

The Flying Phantom was involved in a collision almost exactly seven years ago when it hit an Egyptian cargo vessel carrying 1,000 tonnes of fertiliser in thick fog. On that occasion its four-man crew was rescued by coastguard teams.

The incident happened on 28 December 2000 on the Clyde near Clydebank, close to the site where it capsized on Wednesday.

The tug helped guide the QE2 as it arrived at the Ocean Terminal on the Firth of Clyde in September.

Svitzer managing director James Curry said: "This has been a tragic accident. We are maintaining constant contact with the families of all four crew members and keeping them informed of all developments."

Svitzer UK will be carrying out its own investigation into the accident and said it would be co-operating fully with the Marine Accident Investigation Branch of the Department of Transport.

The Red Jasmine, which has a gross tonnage of 39,000 and was carrying maize and soya from Brazil, is a Panamanian-registered vessel. It docked safely at the King George V Dock a short time after the incident.

Fisherman dies after rocks plunge

The man was taken to hospital by an RAF Sea King helicopter

An angler has died after falling into the sea while fishing with his brother on the Berwickshire coast.

The 46-year-old man, from Edinburgh, was fishing from rocks near Northburn Caravan Park in Eyemouth when he fell into the water at about 1215 GMT.

It is thought he may have taken ill. The local lifeboat crew rescued him from the water within minutes.

An RAF Sea King helicopter transferred him to Borders General Hospital but medics were unable to save him.

Lothian and Borders Police said their inquiries were continuing.

Eyemouth disaster deaths marked

Black Friday services - Picture by Dougie Johnston

A poignant ceremony was held in Eyemouth at the weekend

A series of commemorative events have been held to mark the 125th anniversary of the Eyemouth disaster.

Almost 200 men lost their lives in the "Black Friday" storm - two thirds of them from Eyemouth.

People gathered at the weekend to pay tribute to those who were lost and remember the families left behind.

A play was performed, a wreath laid at sea by the lifeboat, and the town's children carried the names of the boats at a special church service.

In pictures: Black Friday remembered

On 14 October 1881, the Berwickshire fishing fleet put to sea but they were in the eye of a storm.

By noon the fleet was hit by a hurricane and 189 men died.

Almost every family in Eyemouth suffered - losing fathers, husbands, sons, sometimes all three.

But the women refused a charity orphanage's offer to take their children - a decision which will be commemorated in the community play.

Man dies after loch boat capsizes

A man has died after a boat overturned on a loch between Wick and Thurso in the far north of Scotland.

The vessel, containing two people, capsized on Loch Watten in the Highlands at about 1640 BST.

A second man, who was recovered from the water, is being treated in Caithness General Hospital.

As searches continued, a body was found on the shoreline of the loch by a local farmer. Police said the man would not be named until relatives were informed.

The two men are understood to have been fishing from the boat.

An RAF helicopter from Lossiemouth had been searching the loch, along with local coastguard rescue teams and police.

A Coastguard spokesman described weather conditions in the area as "reasonable" with good visibility.

Sunday 26 August 2007 09:44
Maritime And Coastguard Agency (Scotland)

Man pulled from sea in Loch Linnhe

Coastguards were warning of the dangers of hypothermia today after two young men got into difficulties early this morning.

At 7.00 a.m. this morning Clyde Coastguard took a call from the Fort William Underwater Diving Centre at Loch Linnhe alerting the marine emergency service to the plight of a 19 year old youth who was clinging to a green navigation buoy after attempting to secure his dinghy to the buoy when he had decided to fish locally.

Two 20 year old men had gone on a fishing trip in a 10ft Pioneer Dinghy. When they had arrived at the buoy the first man had tried to tie his dinghy to the buoy but had not succeeded and fallen in. The dinghy had then floated away from his position and the man was left clinging to the buoy shouting for help which his colleague was unable to provide. Neither of the men had lifejackets, vhf radio, flares or any other kind of life saving equipment on board with them.
The Fort William Coastguard Rescue Team along with Phil Wren, the local Coastguard Sector Manager, raced to the scene whilst a rescue helicopter was alerted. An ambulance was also asked to attend.

Upon arrival two members of the team went out in the Underwater Centre's rigid inflatable boat along with members of the Centre to pull the man from the water who had been immersed for over 25 minutes. Both the hypothermic man and his colleague were landed back at Fort William before both were taken to hospital.

Phil Wren said after the incident was closed

"This really was a crazy stunt. If these youngsters had not been spotted by the sharp eyed staff from the Centre then this may have had a much more serious outcome. The man was blue with cold when he was pulled from the water and was obviously seriously hypothermic which shows how a combination of the cold water and prolonged immersion in the sea can be a killer.

Neither of these characters were carrying lifejackets or flares, a radio or anything else to raise the alarm when they went out this morning. That was just crass stupidity and anyone else attempting to do likewise should be very aware of the dangers of the sea, even in mid August."

Sunday 19 August 2007 21:40
Maritime And Coastguard Agency (Scotland)

Man missing from boat trip at Campbeltown

At twenty five minutes past one this afternoon, Clyde Coastguard took a 999 call from a concerned lady who had received a call from her husband on a small boat that was sinking.

On the 16 foot boat was the lady's husband, a sixteen year old teenager and an older man.

The people on the boat had used their mobile phone to alert the lady on the shore of their predicament. She then contacted the coastguard giving a brief position of where they were.

Using very limited information Clyde scrambled a helicopter and requested the launch of the Campbeltown RNLI lifeboat and called out the coastguard rescue team.

The teenager and the middle aged man were picked up by the lifeboat wearing lifejackets. They informed the crew that they saw the other gentleman go down with the boat. The helicopter searched from the air but were unable to sight anyone or anything. The weather at the time was good.

Bill Spiers, Watch Manager, Clyde Coastguard said:

The information on the position of this boat was extremely limited as the lady was obviously distressed and trying to relay from her husband where the boats position was.

Mobile phones should not be used on boats as a primary means of communication. VHF radios should always be used as primary communications as Coastguard MRCCs can directional find signals as can all weather lifeboats involved in a rescue mission.

Friday 17 August 2007 16:42
Maritime And Coastguard Agency (Scotland)

Body of fisherman found in search off Arbroath

At eleven o'clock this morning Forth Coastguard were called by the skipper of the FV Sharon Rose reporting that he had come across the FV Boy Joshua with no one onboard.

Forth Coastguard commenced a search for the single-handed skipper based around the last position of the fishing vessel which had not moved as it is was still attached to the creels.

The position is one mile from Whitingness.

Units that have been mobilised in this search are Coastguard rescue teams from Arbroath, Montrose and Carnoustie. RNLI lifeboats have been requested to launch from Arbroath, Montrose and Broughtyferry. A rescue helicopter is also searching. Several fishing vessels also assisted in the search for one of their colleagues.

Angus Maciver, Watch Manager, Forth Coastguard said:

We have found a body in the search for the missing fisherman off Arbroath, which is believed to be that of the skipper of the FV Boy Joshua, but is yet to be formally identified.