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A 52-year-old fisherman has died after falling overboard from a boat in the North Sea near the Bell Rock off Arbroath around lunchtime yesterday, reports the BBC web-site.
Although he only spent a short time in the water before being recovered to the deck of the fishing vessel ‘Optik’, he was in a poor way and needed urgent medical attention.
Arbroath RNLI lifeboat were immediately asked to respond and a rescue helicopter R131 from RAF Boulmer was scrambled to the scene. The small fishing vessel then began its journey back towards the mainland with one crewman steering whilst the other cared for the recovered man.
By 2.23 the helicopter was on scene and with cardio-pulmonary resuscitation still being undertaken, the man was airlifted by the helicopter crew to Ninewells hospital, Dundee, however the BBC reports that he died later.
His boat, the Optik, has been taken to Arbroath Harbour where police and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch will examine it today.
Angus McIver, Watch Manager at Forth Coastguard said immediately after the incident: “Fortunately the weather has not been too poor this afternoon with white cloud and a temperature of 8 degrees Celsius locally which aided a swift recovery.
Should fisheries be closed during breeding time to allow stocks to reach more sustainable levels?
