Scallop Skipper Denies Causing Diver's Death

A fishing boat captain has denied responsibility for a diver's death during a fishing trip off the Fife coast four years ago.

Ronald MacNeil, skipper of the 'Rob Roy', has denied being culpable for errors which allegedly led to the death of Graeme Mackie on June 13 2011.

The 31 year old father-of-one from Tranent, East Lothian, was diving for scallops near Methil Docks.

He was pulled unconscious from the water by a nearby catamaran after failing to resurface.

Kinghorn Lifeboat staff treated him at sea and onshore before he was airlifted to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he was later pronounced dead.
 
MacNeil, from Somerville Road in Leven, is accused of failing to provide proper training, supervision, and adequate safety equipment in the run-up to the incident.

It is claimed he did not ensure that a standby diver was in place to give any necessary help to Mr Mackie while he was working, and that there was no equipment for monitoring Mr Mackie while he was diving.
 
Prosecutors say the skipper failed "to provide equipment which could have assisted in the recovery of Mr Mackie from the water onto the vessel, while he was working, in the event of an emergency and in consequence, Graeme Mackie, whilst working as a diver on the project entered the water, resurfaced in distress and thereafter failed to to resurface whereby he drowned".
 
MacNeil is also accused of failing "to ensure that the project was planned, managed and conducted in a manner which protected the health and safety of all persons taking part in it, and particularly Graeme Mackie, now deceased, who was employed by you as a diver in relation to the project".
 
The charges claim the boat boss failed to assess the risk the diver was exposed to and did not ensure there were "sufficient people with suitable competence".
 
The skipper is also alleged to have put another diver, Alexander Grafton, at risk by failing to provide him with suitable means of communicating while underwater with people on the boat.
 
The charge says Mr Grafton, while underwater, should also have been provided with a lifeline to a surface marker buoy.

MacNeil, 55, pleaded not guilty to all the charges on indictment at Dunfermline Sheriff Court, and the trial has been committed to start later this month.