Two freed in separate road and harbour incidents

Elderly fisherman trapped on his boat at Burghead

EMERGENCY SERVICES WERE called to two incidents in Burghead on Friday that saw them free a man who fell and became trapped on a fishing boat and releasing a woman from her crashed car just outside the town.

An afternoon of drama in the town began shortly after 2pm when firefighters were alerted to an elderly fisherman working on a boat in the harbour who had stumbled and became trapped in a “confined space”.

Firefighters from Elgin arrived at the fishing trawler Isabella and spent more than an hour at the scene working on the release of the 70-year-old. Onlookers were delighted when they had succeeded by 3.15pm in freeing the shaken victim, who was taken to Dr Gray’s Hospital by attending paramedics for a check-up.

It is understood he had suffered no serious injuries with a spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service commenting: “A call came in at 2pm saying a man had fallen into a confined space on his boat and could not get out.

“We attended the scene and helped to release him which was successfully achieved by 3.15pm.”

A few hours later at around 6.10pm emergency services were recalled to the area when a green Rover 5 car and a grey Astra collided at the junction of the B9013 and B9089 near Burghead.

Police and fire crews attended the scene with a woman motorist having to be cut free from her vehicle “as a precaution”. A man was also slightly injured from the accident that left the road closed for a short while after.