A Fife lifeboat crew was involved in a dramatic late-night rescue after a young fishing boat skipper sustained horrific injuries when he was caught in machinery.
The 18-year-old man, named locally as Connor Williamson, is understood to have undergone surgery on his upper left arm after trapping it in the alternator of his vessel.
Volunteers from the Kinghorn lifeboat were scrambled to Kirkcaldy Bay on Sunday evening after receiving a distress call from the Saltire, a 32-foot boat fishing for prawns in the area.
Lifeboat crew member Mark Brown said: ”’We assessed the casualty on arrival, and found a significant injury to his left arm.
”It is understood that he had caught it in a moving part. We transferred the casualty to the lifeboat and took him to Kirkcaldy.”
The boat, which hails from Port Seton in East Lothian, issued the distress call at around 9.30pm.
The lifeboat volunteers arrived on the scene, three miles south-east of Kirkcaldy, within 15 minutes, taking the man to Kirkcaldy’s outer dock where an ambulance took him to the Victoria Hospital.
A member of the lifeboat team helped the remaining crew member of the Saltire to take it back to port.
It was reported that Mr Williamson had been transferred to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary before undergoing surgery on his arm.