Fishing boat tragedy

The crew of the MFV Louisa which floundered off Mingulay near Barra were asleep while the vessel lay at anchor in a calm sea.

They woke up shocked to find the boat sinking in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Quickly throwing on whatever clothes they could find, the four leapt out of their bunks and scrambled up on deck to find cold seawater coming onboard fast.

The 15-metre-long crab boat was bow down at a steep angle, sliding below the surface, her stern pointing up into the freezing, black night.

The four crew abandoned the vessel. Two bodies were later found including one man who tried to swim to shore. Searches have been carried out for the skipper who is still missing.

Lachlan Armstrong swum to an island was found safe and flown to hospital in Stornoway.

Mr Armstrong explained: "The water was so cold and we were all immersed in the water.

“The raft never inflated - that’s the reason why we weren't out of the water.

“Being that cold you know the only way you can survive is to get out of the water.”

The make-do raft would gain extra buoyancy without his weight, helping his friends, he hoped.

"I made the choice to try to go for land. I didn't know if I'd make it. I thought perhaps leaving the other two boys with the raft they'd have more of a chance to get on to the raft themselves."

The liferaft failed to inflate leaving the crew to cut open its hard cover protective case and manually unfold the interior rubber material into some kind of floating sheet as best they could.

The semi-submerged sheet was "extremely unstable with four people and we all fell in the water.”

The men tried to stay out of the water but “were just falling straight back in again” as they struggled to keep afloat in the sea.

“You were so cold you couldn’t even hold onto it.

“I have no idea how I found the strength to keep going."

With two men clinging on, the water came up to their waist, he explained.

But the combined weight of four men had the sea lapping at their necks, pulling down the barely floating sheet of rubber.

He added: “We were all in the sea and it was just the lifejackets we had on holding us up.”

Mr Armstrong said: "A lot went through my mind and when I did finally reach the rocks I was convinced the rest of them would be OK. To hear that they were all gone - it still hasn't sunk in."

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) which is probing the sinking pledged to examine all details in an effort to establish the cause of the tragedy.

When specifically asked about the liferaft problem, MAIB inspector Robert Cranstone stressed: “We will investigate everything to do with the accident and in the fullness of time we will produce our report highlighting any safety issues.”

Survivor speaks about fishing boat sinking

12 April 2016

Lachan Armstrong