Shock after man in his 80s drowns in reservoir

Emergency crews desperately tried to save victim

An elderly man is believed to have been the victim of a drowning in an East Neuk reservoir. The tragedy on Friday evening has shocked the community surrounding Gillingshill reservoir, near the village of Arncroach. The victim’s identity is not yet known, but he is believed to have been in his 80s. A local couple told The Courier they wanted the man’s family to know the emergency services did all they could to help him. Fiona and Michael Audsley, whose home overlooks the beauty spot seven miles north of Anstruther, said the crews had been heroic. They said that when the man’s body was taken from the water, ambulance and fire crews spent nearly 30 minutes attempting to revive him. He was then taken away in an ambulance on a stretcher while wearing an oxygen mask. The couple added that the elderly man’s family need to know that everything possible had been done to try to save him. The drama unfolded shortly after 6.30pm when dog walkers found the man in the water at the idyllic nature reserve. Police, ambulance and fire crews rushed to the scene. Around an hour after the discovery, an ambulance was seen heading north, under blue lights. A sign had been erected in the area recently warning the public about the dangers posed by the reservoir. The tragedy came in the same week that an initiative was launched by Water Safety Scotland and the Scottish Government alerting schoolchildren to the danger of water.

A police officer at the scene at Gillingshill reservoir, near the village of Arncroach in the East Neuk.