A 24-year-old islander was critically ill in hospital last night following a car crash on Lewis.
Iain Gillies, of Skigersta in Ness, received serious injures when his green Ford Focus car smashed into a stone wall at a junction with the main road going through the village of Lionel.
The accident occurred near to his home at 12.50am on Saturday. No other vehicle was involved and he was alone in the car.
It is believed his heart stopped and he was revived with emergency resuscitation by Ness firefighters who arrived within minutes.
Ambulance staff took over and the badly hurt man was taken to hospital in Stornoway.
He was later airlifted to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley. A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow said: “Mr Gilles is in a critical condition.”
Mr Gilles is a mechanic with Scotts’ Garage in Stornoway. He previously worked with Kiwi’s in the town.
The family of Iain Gillies is well known in Ness as his father Iain is an elder in the Free Church and was until recently the head teacher at Lionel School.
His mother Ann works in the Bank of Scotland in Stornoway and younger brother Donald plays for the senior Ness football team. He has a sister Joanna.
Local councillor Kenny Macleod said: “We all hope Iain pulls through. The whole community is shocked and stunned over the accident.
“I know Iain very well and I heard he is in a critical condition. Everybody’s thoughts are with the family at this very difficult time.”
Both lanes of the main road on the A857 were closed by the Cross Skigersta junction with traffic diverted through side roads circling neighbouring villages.
Specialist police from Dingwall travelled to the island to investigate the incident.
The road remained closed until after 6pm on Saturday when the wrecked car was removed.
Inquiries into the smash are continuing and island police have appealed for any witnesses to the collision to contact them on 101.