An investigation has been launched after a former Aberdeen resident’s body slipped from a helicopter harness while being winched from a Scottish loch.
Former University of Aberdeen chaplain Dr Bill Murdoch, 64, drowned in Loch Fyne, Argyll, on Monday September 7.
A search and rescue helicopter crew from HMS Gannet in Ayrshire were called in to remove his lifeless body from the water.
Dr Murdoch was being winched aboard when his body slipped from the harness and fell into the water.
Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “While all the signs were that Dr Murdoch had passed away prior to the rescue, which was confirmed by the post-mortem, our thoughts are of course with his family at this extremely difficult time.
“Search and rescue is a challenging and complex task which the Royal Navy conducts with professionalism in all conditions.
“We note Police Scotland’s statement that there were no suspicious circumstances.”
Dr Murdoch is understood to have left his chaplaincy post in Aberdeen in the 1990s.
He is believed to have been living in Argyll at the time of his death and had been fishing on Loch Fyne when he drowned.
A police spokeswoman said: “Following a full investigation, there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of a 64-year-old man recovered from Loch Fyne on Monday 7 September. A report has been sent to the procurator fiscal.”
