THE SEARCH for the ultimate sufferer of a trawler sinking off the Western Isles was persevering with on Monday as tributes to the lads killed within the incident have been paid.
The MV Louisa sank off the island of Mingulay within the early hours of Saturday morning.
Of the 4 robust crew of the Stornoway-registered boat one managed to swim to security, the our bodies of two males have been recovered whereas the skipper, named regionally as forty two-yr-previous Paul Macmillan, is lacking feared drowned,
The doomed crew are believed to have made it to their boat’s life raft after setting off a misery name at three:45am earlier than deciding to swim ashore.
Sole survivor Lachlann Armstrong, 27, of Stornoway, Lewis was left clinging to rocks for a number of hours earlier than he was rescued.
The physique of crewmate Martin Johnstone, of Halkirk, Caithness was recovered from the water alongside one other fellow crew member who has not but been recognized.
Investigators from the Marine Accident Investigation Department arrived in Stornoway yesterday.
Posting on social media , a faculty pal of Paul Macmillan from Stornoway stated: “I’ve simply heard the very unhappy information that one other individual from our yr was taken to quickly this weekend.
“Paul Macmillan was the skipper of the fishing boat that sank off Barra. His physique continues to be lacking. I hadn’t seen Paul for years, he would all the time cease and speak about fishing. Completely a pleasant man. RIP Paul.”
There are reviews that the life raft did not inflate correctly and the skilled seamen opted to swim to shore which was in sight moderately then let hypothermia set in.
Finlay Macleod, superintendent on the Fisherman’s Mission in Stornoway, stated all 4 of the lads made it to the life raft.
He stated: “They have been all being supported by the life raft because the vessel sank however the water was too chilly and two crew members reached the conclusion that if that they had stayed with the life raft, as they’re taught to do, then hypothermia would have set in
“They noticed the shore they usually thought they might attempt for it, sadly just one reached it. Everyone’s actually traumatised. It is an absolute tragedy.”
Prayers have been held throughout church buildings on the Western Isles and Chief Inspector Alastair Garrow stated the deaths can be felt within the small island group.
“This has been a tragic incident which can influence on the area people,” he stated.
” Our ideas are with the households affected.”