A north community is praying for a primary school pupil who remains in a critical condition after being knocked down by a car as he walked home from school.
The nine-year-old Dornoch youngster was taken by air ambulance to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness on Friday before being transferred to a hospital in Edinburgh.
The collision happened in Evelix Road, about 300 yards from the local primary and secondary schools, beside the path to the Willows housing development.
Last night a police spokeswoman said: “The boy is still in a critical condition and is being treated in a hospital in Edinburgh.”
Yesterday, the Rev Susan Brown, of Dornoch Cathedral, said a prayer written on the church’s page on social media had been viewed more than 22,000 times since it was posted on Friday night.
She added: “The whole community is devastated by what has happened.
“On Sunday we remembered him in the service and thought too about the desperate time his parents are going through.
“Our prayers extended to his classmates and friends and to those caring for him, as well as to those who cared for him at the time of the accident.
“We think too of the driver involved who must be going through agony, and his teachers who face a new week without his face beaming back at them.”
Evelix Road was closed for several hours on Friday night as accident investigators examined a black Renault Clio at the scene.
A schoolbag could also be seen lying on the pavement on the opposite side of the road.
East Sutherland councillor Jim McGillivray said that he had been calling for improvements to be made on the stretch of road for several years, and that proposals to narrow it were currently out for community consultation.