On Boxing Day last year, 21-year old Simon MacMillan went to a dance at Daliburgh in South Uist, about 90 miles south of Stornoway. At 3 a.m., he went home in a minibus, with about a dozen other young people. He was due to get off at the junction at Ardmhor, in the north of South Uist, but never reached home. Tales from other passengers, many in a state of inebriation, suggested he had instead alighted at Liniquie, 3 miles to the west, and 3 miles past his destination.
Simon was reported missing the next morning. For about a fortnight or so, searches by individual islanders, the police and other emergency services went on in the area for him. Loch Bi, which is a large tidal loch adjacent to Ardmhor and Liniquie, was searched over and over again. After the emergency services had given up, Simon's body was finally recovered from the southern shores of Loch Bi, 4 miles south of Ardmhor.
Nobody knows for certain what happened that night, and it is inappropriate for me to relay local speculation. All I can do is restate my sympathies to the MacMillan family and friends on their loss. RIP Simon MacMillan.
Death will always hold mystery for us.
ReplyDeleteLet it never hold fear of the unknown.