A north-east harbour remained closed last night after a section of its pier collapsed into the sea.
Banff Marina has been shut since Friday evening when, at about 10pm, a corner of the quay crumbled away near local pleasure boats.
Nobody was injured in the incident, but as a precaution, the harbour has been closed to the public.
A crack on the affected wall had been spotted by marina users two months ago and Aberdeenshire Council had scheduled dive teams to inspect it before it gave way last week.
Corrie McCall, the authority’s harbour officer, has now said that torrential rainfall across the region may have resulted in the quay giving way.
In a statement released to boat owners, he added: “We have been monitoring small crack movements at the end of the Railway Jetty closely for the past two months and a dive inspection was scheduled for Thursday [ June 22].
“Our first priority is to clear the channel and to make safe the Railway Jetty end.
“We met with contractors this morning and agreed a rough programme and finalised details to achieve these priorities. We are hoping to commence on or around Friday, June 23.”
The repairs will take between 10 and 14 days to complete.
Mr McCall added: “In the meantime, the harbour will remain closed and we recommend that you do not enter or exit the harbour.
Local councillor John Cox has said he does not know how much the repairs will cost.
But he has estimated that they “will not come cheap”.
He said: “Obviously the timing of what has happened isn’t very good. I think we are fortunate that nobody was hurt and no boats were damaged.”
