Oyster farmer dies in lochside tragedy at family-run firm
AN oyster farmer has died after an accident while working at his company’s lochside site.
Workers raised the alarm when Hugo Vajk, who ran Caledonian Oyster Co with his wife Judith, ended up face down in the water of Loch Creran, north of Benderloch, near Oban.
Mr Vajk, 62, was pulled from the loch late on Sunday afternoon by Oban lifeboat and then airlifted by Coastguard helicopter to Lorn and Islands Hospital in the town. A Police Scotland spokesman said yesterday: ‘At 4.40pm yesterday police were alerted to a report of a man in the water at Loch Creran, near Benderloch.
‘A 62-year-old man was airlifted to Oban hospital where he later died. Inquiries are ongoing to establish the circumstances of the incident.’
Mr Vajk’s widow Judith, 54, said her husband was working with staff at the site, while she was working at another site close by. She added: ‘It was an accident working on the beach. I don’t know the circumstances but they were working at low tide and then I think, basically, the water was coming up.
‘I was working on the other site, just further along, another worker struggled to get him out of the water, but the lifeboat got him out.’
She continued: ‘He loved being at the beach and working here. He loved his job. He was very well-known and respected.’ Mrs Vajk, who is originally from Perthshire, said that her husband was French and after working in his home country they had started an oyster farm on Herm Island, off Guernsey.
They returned to Scotland in 1995, to run the farm in Argyll.
The couple have a son and two daughters.
Their company won top prize (2017-2018) for Best Native Oysters at the Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers annual conference in Oban in October, having won the same award in 2014.
Family friend and fellow shellfish farmer Nicki Holmyard said: ‘Hugo Vajk was one of the pioneers of Scottish oyster farming and the industry
‘Well-known and respected’
has lost one of the best in the business. He ran a very successful operation in Loch Creran with his family but was not one to shout about his achievements.
‘Hugo was a charming and witty Frenchman that we were pleased to count as a friend.’
Police blocked off the road to the lochside farm yesterday as officers scoured the area and took photographs.
Iain MacKinnon, station officer with Oban Volunteer Coastguard Team, who was one of the emergency service workers called to the scene, said: ‘The water was seven degrees and your fridge runs at five degrees, so it was very cold.
‘Also the wind chill factor meant the water temperature was about three degrees.’