3 Killed in Fire on Scottish Trawler

Three fishermen were killed in a fire on board a fishing trawler docked in a Scottish harbor.

One of the dead was Latvian and the other two Filipino, The Scotsman reported. They were members of the crew of the Vision II, which was being refitted in Fraserburgh.

A security guard saw the fire at 1:36 a.m. Friday. He had seen three men returning to the vessel and tried to get on board but was driven back by the flames.

About 40 firefighters took an hour to bring the fierce fire under control. Coast Guard boats checked the water around the trawler, looking for anyone who might have escaped by jumping into the harbor but found no one.

Members of the growing community of Filipino fishermen gathered Friday at the fishermen’s mission in Fraserburgh. Murray Campbell, the mission superintendent, said they were really shocked by the deaths.

They feel very much for their colleagues and friends and for those who are left back in the Philippines who are now mourning, he said. The people who died were well known locally. We feel for the loss of these fishermen. Everyone here is devastated.