Woman’s body recovered from sea off Sumburgh Head

The body of a 42-year-old woman was found in the sea to the north west of Sumburgh Head on Sunday afternoon.

The woman has not been named as yet and her body is being sent to Aberdeen for a post-mortem today. Police in Lerwick say there are no suspicious circumstances and a report is to be submitted to the procurator fiscal.

Police are understood to have been alerted to the incident by birdwatchers in the area and they launched a major search and rescue operation at around 2pm. Police, coastguard and the Sumburgh fire and rescue boat were involved in the search, resulting in the body being recovered from the sea.

Earlier on Sunday, coastguard and lifeboat teams received a hoax distress call suggesting that an individual from a vessel in Symbister harbour, Whalsay, was in the water. Having conducted a full search of the area, police have charged an 18-year-old man with making the call. A report is to be submitted to the procurator fiscal.