News / Man dies after scallop boat capsizes
POLICE in Shetland have confirmed that 40 year old Lerwick man Leonard Scollay has died after a fishing boat struck rocks in the early hours of Tuesday.
The tragic death resulted after the scallop boat Diamond, which he was crewing with one other man, capsized and sank near West Burrafirth.
Both men were taken to the West Burrafirth pier and flown by helicopter to Gilbert Bain Hospital for treatment, where the second crewman is said to be in a stable condition.
The crew alerted Shetland coastguard just before 3am that they had hit rocks on the approach to the West Burrafirth pier and were going down. No further radio contact was made.
A local fishing vessel, the Diane Maxwell, was nearby and responded. The Aith lifeboat and Shetland coastguard helicopter were also alerted. Crew on the Diane Maxwell pulled one of the fishermen out of the freezing water before the Aith lifeboat retrieved the second fisherman.
Aith lifeboat coxswain Hylton Henry said the second man, locally named as Chris Smith, was lucky to be alive having been in the freezing water for half an hour.
Henry said he only survived because he was wearing a survival suit, unlike Scollay.
“Amazingly the crew of the Diane Maxwell found the first casualty. He had no survival gear on and was dressed in dark clothing. They did a very good job in finding him,” he said.
“We got paged at two minutes to three and were out within seven minutes. It took us about 20 minutes to get around to West Burrafirth. So, they were in the water for about 30 minutes.”
Two other fishing vessels also responded to the coastguard’s call for help. A spokeswoman said the crew of the Diane Maxwell administered CPR on the first casualty, while the second man was wrapped in blankets to keep warm.
Police said Scollay’s next of kin had been informed and have asked for the media to respect their wishes to be left in peace to grieve at this difficult time.
A report will be submitted to the procurator fiscal.
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