A sailor suffered "horrific" injuries on board a trawler in the Firth of Clyde.

Aurelian Dinu, 30, of Romania, who had not received mandatory training, was struck on the head by a pole as deckhands on the Sea Harvester tried to untangle fishing gear that had snagged last August.

During their attempt to wind the fishing gear in, the tension in one of the ropes bent a pole and launched it from its socket, hitting Mr Dinu and knocking him unconscious.

He was flown to hospital by helicopter with injuries that have left him totally dependant on others.

Experts described his wounds as "horrific and life-changing" and said he is unable to follow instructions.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency inspection of the Sea Harvester following the accident identified 15 issues.

Meanwhile, a Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report published on Thursday found that crew - including Mr Dinu - had not completed mandatory training courses.

It said: "Sea Harvester's owners' use of deckhands who had not completed mandatory safety-related training courses and, in some cases, could not speak or understand English, was a commercial expedience taken in response to the unavailability of local, trained fishermen."

It added: "Without suitably trained fishermen, risk assessments to identify and mitigate hazards or self-certification to confirm that safety equipment was compliant with the relevant checklist for the vessel's size, both vessel and crew safety were compromised."

Investigators noted Mr Dinu was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and the crew did not routinely wear either helmets or life jackets.

The MAIB's report said: The degree of protection that would have been afforded by the wearing of a safety helmet is uncertain.

"Nonetheless, some protection, no matter how limited, could have potentially reduced the severity of the horrific, life-changing injuries that Aurelian sustained."

Sea Harvester's owners have taken steps changes to reduce the chance of a similar accident happening in future, the MAIB said.

They have also reviewed arrangements on other vessels they own and carried out a health and safety risk assessment.