Container Ship Aground off Scotland

Published Feb 23, 2015 7:57 PM by Wendy Laursen

A 129m general cargo/container ship has run aground off the Scottish coast and is taking on water.

Lysblink Seaways was on its way from Belfast to Norway when it ran aground in the early hours of Wednesday February 18 at Kilchoan on the remote peninsula of Ardnamurchan.

The nine crew members are reportedly unharmed and remain on board the vessel which is not considered to be in imminent danger of sinking.

Tugs are expected to try to free the vessel which wasn’t able to be refloated at the high tide, and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Tobermory lifeboat is at the scene. A spokesman for RNLI said: “Tobermory RNLI’s volunteer crew launched the Severn class lifeboat, Elizabeth Fairlie Ramsey, shortly after 3am to go to the aid of the vessel which was hard aground on rocks close to the ferry slipway.”

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has sent emergency towing vessel Heracles to the scene. It is expected to arrive at around 2am on Thursday. A MCA spokesperson told Sky News that counter pollution measures are in place as there is a small amount of fuel leaking from the vessel. “Currently, there is a light sheen on the water's surface [measuring] two by two meters.”

The vessel is believed to be carrying a cargo of paper.

Picture credit: RNLI/Andrew McHaffie