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A fishing boat skipper believes his trawler snared a Russian nuclear SUBMARINE in its nets.

Angus Macleod told of the terrifying incident off the Outer Hebrides which saw his net continually dragged in front of his 62ft trawler.

He has sent reports to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch, according to the Daily Record.

Angus, 46, said: “The only explanation I can think of is it’s a submarine.

"Is it possible a non-Nato submarine could be involved? It was not a whale - we have had whales in the nets before and the net is all twisted afterwards.

"Whatever it was was human powered - of that we are convinced.

“It missed the nets, which is just as well. I think something got hold of the dog rope – which attaches to the top and bottom of the net – and the trawl wire.

“All five of us aboard are lucky. I don’t want to think of what could have happened.”

In recent days, there have been fears that Russian nuclear submarines may be operating off the coast of Scotland.

The MoD told the Coastguard they had no subs in the area where Angus’s vessel, the Aquarius, was operating on Tuesday.

(Image: PA)

The wooden boat was about 10 miles east of the Butt of Lewis and fishing for haddock, monkfish and skate in 360ft of water. The crew had two nets out.

At about 7pm and again at about 11.30pm the boat suddenly slowed. The port net moved in front of the boat, while the other still lay astern.

Dad-of-two Angus, from Barra, said he had to “up the revs” on the engine to keep ahead of the net for fear of it tangling on the propeller.

For 15 minutes, he battled to keep the boat ahead of the net. Angus, a fisherman for 30 years, said: “It kept going forward and we had to repeat the manoeuvre four times to stay ahead.

“The winch was under increasing strain as we tried to haul the rope. There was no way the net was snagged on the bottom – we were fishing well off the bottom.

“It only ended when the dog rope was cut by the propeller.

“Between the five of us, there is 110 years’ experience and we have never experienced anything like that.

“The sea conditions were good. We were mystified – we just couldn’t explain it.”

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The boat headed for port but had steering problems and the Stornoway lifeboat was launched to bring it in.

It was found that four of the five one-inch bolts that connect the steering motor to the rudder had come out and the other was loose from the strain.

The bill for damage and loss of earnings runs to £10,000.

Angus added: “At first, the Coastguard told me there was submarine activity in the area – then later said the MoD told them that there was not.

“I would like to get to the bottom of it. It was a very worrying experience - it shook us all up especially when we thought about it afterwards. Whatever happened involved a moving object in mid-stream."

A Coastguard spokesman said: “The MoD have told us there was no submarine activity in the area at the time. We are continuing to investigate.”

It is thought Russian submarines may be trying to shadow a Royal Navy Vanguard-class sub – which carries Trident missiles – which recently left its Faslane base.

Two US aircraft and a Navy frigate have been conducting anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic this week.

In 1990, four men died when a Navy submarine dragged Scottish trawler the Anteres under in the Irish Sea.