Eight-year-old girl crushed by falling logs in Scottish Highlands

An eight-year-old girl has died and a 12-year-old girl has been injured after they were trapped under falling logs in a Highland forest.

Police said the accident happened on forestry land at Benderloch, north of Oban.

The younger girl died at the scene following the incident on Sunday afternoon while the 12-year-old was airlifted to hospital.

Forestry works are taking place in the area and locals said a path from the village to Ben Lora was currently fenced off and closed. The incident is thought to have involved logs piled up in the commercial woodland.

Lewis Morrison, who runs Ledaig Motors near the start of the path, added: "This is a terrible tragedy and the thoughts of this small community are with the girls' families. Accidents on the hill here are very rare.

"The Ben Lora walks have been closed, it's all fenced off at this end, it's completely closed, there is felling extraction going on and the bigger trees have been getting dropped down here at the car park, but I wouldn't have thought there would have been any felling going on, on a Sunday.

"I heard a helicopter go over the top of Ben Lora this afternoon and there were various other emergency vehicles went past here, heading north out of the village.”

Paul Woodhouse, whose house above Barcaldine is surrounded by the Ben Lora forest, added: “There was an ambulance and a fire officer up here this afternoon trying to get there, up Ben Lora, behind Benderloch.

"The fire officer was trying to find the way up through the forest road to Ben Lora, so I assumed someone had fallen and injured themselves.”

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances. The Health & Safety Executive has been informed about the incident.