A massive search was launched after an angler was washed off rocks into the North Sea while out night fishing.
The alarm was raised at 3am yesterday by another fisherman who was with him at the time in the Tangle-Ha area near St Cyrus in Aberdeenshire.
Weather conditions along the coast were reported to be fierce little over an hour before the coastguard was alerted that a man was in the sea.
Rebekah Massie, 22, who is a barmaid at the Anchor Hotel on New Road in nearby Johnshaven, said the waves were the worst she had ever seen when she left work at 1.45am. She said: “It was really high and really choppy. I wouldn’t have imagined anyone going out in that weather.”
Tangle-Ha, which features a small cluster of houses, is a popular spot for fishing particularly at high tide and when the sea is rough.
A fisherman, who lives in Tangle-Ha and did not wish to be named, said the beach and rocky outcrops there regularly attract anglers. He said: “The stretch of water from Carnoustie to Stonehaven is a pull for cod fishing in winter.
“Cod roe is very popular at the moment, you can tell because it is so expensive in the shops, and the best place to catch it is where the sea is rough and the roughest water is where the sea reaches the coast. Sea angling is popular here, I see them during the day but they also come in the middle of the night whenever there is a high tide because that is when the fish come in to the coast.”
Coastguard rescue teams were scrambled to the scene from Montrose, Carnoustie, Arbroath and Aberdeen along with the Montrose RNLI all-weather lifeboat Moonbeam and rescue helicopter BP Rescue Bond 1.
A spokesman for the RNLI said: “The lifeboat and its volunteer crew returned to the station at 0730 , and set off again shortly after to continue the search, searching the coastline from Milton Ness to Johnshaven returning to the station at 1240 having not found the fisherman.”
Many residents in Johnshaven were woken up before 7am yesterday by the rescue helicopter which was carrying out its search from just north of Johnshaven to St Cyrus until around 11am.
Graeme Davidson, 43, lives on New Road in Johnshaven and went down to the village harbour about 7.30am. He said: “The helicopter was low and moving very slowly from about 2km (1.4 miles) north of Johnshaven to over Tangle-Ha and then it moved back up again and would repeat the sweep.”
Nothing had been found by 3.30pm yesterday and the search was called off until low tide last night. Kevin Brown, watch manager at Aberdeen Coastguard, said at the time the incident was reported the wind was blowing at force 4, between 13 and 17mph, and there was a swell of 10ft.
He said: “We’d always recommend that anglers check weather and tides before setting out and make sure they wear suitable clothing and a lifejacket.”
The search comes two weeks after a paramedic died after being swept into the sea while walking at Stonehaven.