Fisherman in hospital after alleged stabbing incident on boat at Scrabster

The 45-year-old man was taken to Caithness General Hospital in Wick for treatment after the emergency services were called out following what was described as a disturbance on the vessel. His condition is not known.

The incident happened shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

Another 45-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident, while police enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances of what happened.

Jason Hamilton, the harbour master at Scrabster, said: “I can confirm there was an incident on board a fishing boat at the harbour. The emergency services were called and attended.”

The Brisca is understood to be an Ullapool-registered, Spanish-owned long-line fishing boat with a Spanish, Indonesian and Filipino crew of about 12 people. They are not thought to speak much English and may require the services of interpreters.

The fishing boat is being treated as a crime scene and it is not known how long the investigations will last.

A police spokesman said it was not possible, at this stage, to say how long the enquiries would take.

Following the incident the other crew members were being looked after at the old fishermen’s mission at Scrabster.

Colin Mackay, the superintendent at the mission, said yesterday the police were still carrying out their enquiries.

He did not know how long the crew would be at the mission and said it would depend on how long the investigations continued.

“I suppose it will go on until the police are happy the crew can go back on board,” Mr Mackay said. “We help out when we are asked to and look after fishermen and their families and that is what we are doing.”

The Brisca has been at Scrabster before, added the mission superintendent, who has spoken to some of the crew in the past.

It is understood coastguard teams assisted ambulance personnel to take the casualty ashore to a waiting ambulance and on to Caithness General.