A fisherman has died after he and two other crew members were rescued from a liferaft after their boat sank.
The three crew members were rescued from waters west of the Isle of Harris after the emergency services were alerted at 3pm on Thursday.
The men, from the Isle of Lewis, raised a Mayday call requesting urgent assistance after their ten-metre fishing vessel “Achieve” got into trouble.
No location was given but the Stornoway Coastguard were able to calculate a likely position of the boat by triangulating radio signals and checking with local ports and harbours for a vessel of the same name.
A distress alert had been received from an RNLI “Man Overboard Beacon” by Falmouth maritime rescue co-ordination centre and the Leverburgh RNLI lifeboat was sent to that location along with the Coastguard rescue helicopter based at Stornoway.
A red flare was launched from the liferaft at the scene when the helicopter arrived.
The three fishermen were winched from the liferaft to the helicopter and taken to the Western Isles hospital for treatment.
Stornoway coastguard watch manager Ed Thompson said: “It would appear that the fishermen’s vessel sank very quickly and although they were unable to give us their position during their Mayday call for help, they had flares in the liferaft and so were able to quickly attract the attention of the helicopter when it arrived on scene.”
A spokesman for Northern Constabulary said: “Leverburgh RNLI lifeboat and the Coastguard rescue helicopter, based at Stornoway, attended the scene, and all three crew members who had been in the water were winched from a liferaft to the helicopter and were taken to Western Isles hospital for treatment.
“Two men were discharged from hospital, however the third man later died in hospital. Next of kin have been informed.”