A MAN has been airlifted to hospital from a fishing vessel.

Coastguard and ambulance crews were called to the ship in Peterhead harbour at 9:30 am yesterday after the man took ill.

A doctor who made it to the scene before the coastguard said the man needed urgent medical attention and the North Sea Jigsaw rescue helicopter, which was training in the area at the time, airlifted the man from the ship before taking him to hospital.

A coastguard spokesman said: "We tasked our Peterhead coastguard team with assisting paramedics in removing the man from the vessel.

"However when our team got on scene there was already a doctor there and he advised that the condition of the casualty was such that he required evacuation.

"We tasked the BP helicopter Bond One to airlift the casualty from Peterhead to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary."

The man's condition is not known.