An international maritime charity organised a mass service this week for the grieving family and friends of a crewman who died after being involved in an industrial accident in Easter Ross.
The seafarer, a Filipino crew members on board the Deep Energy vessel, was working on the quay at Invergordon when he was struck and critically injured by a forklift.
His widow told a chaplain in Manila that his job was the family’s main source of income and that he had recently spoken about retiring.
On Tuesday this week, Sailors’ Society auxiliary port chaplain Drew Anderson arranged a service at St Joseph’s Church in Invergordon for his fellow crew members.
The incident happened at about 8.30am last Friday.
Mr Anderson said: “I got call from the port authority just after the incident and spent most of the day with the crew alongside one of our ship visitors, Murdo MacLeod. I organised a mass for them on board that afternoon.
“When I went on board there were a lot of visibly upset people. Working together at sea for many months, the seafarers are close and to them it’s like losing a brother.”
Mr Anderson returned the next day to administer emotional and practical support and the ship’s captain asked for a Catholic priest to do a requiem mass.
The Sailors’ Society has chaplains and ship visitors in 85 global ports across 26 countries.
Mr Anderson liaised with a chaplain from Apostleship of the Sea and his fellow Sailors’ Society chaplain in the Philippines, Nic Tuban, who has been comforting the seafarer’s widow and children in Manila.
Mr Tuban said: “His wife is devastated, she didn’t expect him to die so young and told me that he had recently spoken about retiring.
‘He went to sea in February and had been in Scotland for quite a while. His job was the family’s main source of income.
‘I comforted the family and prayed with them. I was also able to give his wife some financial assistance in the form of a Sailors’ Society welfare grant.
“She is waiting for his body to be returned to the Philippines and I will accompany the family to the airport.”