A missing fisherman has died after being pulled from the water off the east coast of Scotland.
The 64-year-old was reported missing at around 4.30pm on Sunday after an empty creel boat was found a mile north-east of Torness, East Lothian.
A major search was launched involving a Coastguard search and rescue helicopter, two lifeboats from Dunbar, a third from St Abbs, and local fishing vessels.
A Coastguard spokesman said the helicopter crew winched the man from the water at around 5.50pm and attempted to resuscitate him as they flew to hospital.
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “Around 6.05pm on Sunday, 2 May, 2021, police were called to a report of a man having fallen into the sea from a fishing vessel near Torness.
READ MORE: Saltcoats cyclist injured in hit and run as police launch investigation
“Emergency services attended and a 64-year-old man was recovered from the sea.
“He was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary where he was pronounced dead.
“There are not believed to be any suspicious circumstances and a report will be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal.”
The Dunbar all-weather lifeboat crew recovered the creel boat and towed it to the town’s harbour.
A Dunbar Lifeboat spokesman said: “Our deepest condolences go to the family and friends of the person involved.
“We would also like to thank the fishing vessels who helped enormously with the search operation.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here