A Scots family was coming to terms with its third tragedy in eight years yesterday after an angler drowned in western Australia.

Mr Kenny Ross, 26, a fisherman, from Burghead, Moray, was angling from a pier when his line hooked a very large fish, which ripped his rod out of his hands.

He jumped into shark-infested waters to retrieve the rod, but disappeared under crashing waves.

Witnesses told how yards of line flew out of his reel before the rod was pulled from his hands.

Mr Ross was later found dead in Rockingham, 18 miles from the Western Australia capital of Perth.

It is not clear whether he was pulled under the water by the large fish he had hooked or became tangled in his fishing line.

Australian police yesterday confirmed that an official inquest will be held soon.

Yesterday, the people of Burghead were trying to come to terms with the tragedy, the latest one to affect the Ross family.

In December 1990, Mr Ross's father John, 46, was one of six crewmen who perished when the 74-ft trawler Premier was lost with all hands off Shetland.

In 1996, Mr Ross's mother, Margaret, 45, also died when she lost her fight with cancer.

Neighbours said yesterday that Mr Ross was in Western Australia to discuss the future of his younger brother John, 12, who had been staying with his sister Caroline at her home at Rockingham.

Mr Ross had been expected to return home with the youngster next week.

Choking back tears, another sister, Ms Gillian Ross, 31, of Mackenzie Place, Burghead, said: ''I am heartbroken. My sister phoned to tell me the news late on Thursday afternoon.

''We are both absolutely devastated by this. He was on a three- week holiday and was due to return next week.

''Kenny was staying with my sister Caroline and she is as upset as me. She had dropped him off at the pier on Thursday for a normal day's fishing. I feel a great sense of loss at the moment.''

Mr Dennis Scaife, the local councillor in Burghead, said: ''That family has had so much misfortune it is hard to believe. It is so unfair that so much has happened to them. Everyone in Burghead knows the Ross family and they are well respected and liked here.''

Mr Ross had been working as a creel fisherman aboard the Burghead-registered Gem which goes on week-long fishing trips from Scrabster, Caithness.

Yesterday Inspector George Grieve, of the Australian police in Perth, said: ''We received a report at about 11.50am on Thursday morning that a man fishing off a jetty at Wells Park, in Rockingham, had lost his rod and reel and had jumped in the water after it. He got into difficulties and attempted to swim back to shore, but the tide dragged him out to sea.

''The water police got him on to the beach and administered the kiss of life, but he failed to respond and was certified dead when he was taken to hospital.''

The Edinburgh-born inspector, who has served in Australia for 30 years, said that it was not clear exactly how the tragedy occurred.

He added: ''Some theories have included a shark, giant squid or a stingray grabbing his line and pulling him into the water.

''Because it is winter at the moment, it was very windy and the sea was rough yesterday. None of the local people would have jumped into the water there. Because Mr Ross was not from here, it is possible that he underestimated the force of the waves.''