Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scotland’s only emegency tug rescues stricken fishing boat off Orkney

ETV Herakles towing the stricken vessel into Hatston
ETV Herakles towing the stricken vessel into Hatston

Scotland’s only emergency Coastguard tug came to the rescue of a drifting fishing boat when gale force winds prevented a lifeboat from helping it.

The 89ft Russa Taing lost engine power 12 miles west of Noup Head, Westray, on Thursday evening and the Orkney-based emergency towing vessel (ETV) Herakles was called in to assist.

A Coastguard spokesman said: “The vessel broke down and requested assistance because they were drifting and the weather was bad.

“Another fishing vessel, the Keila, attempted to tow it but they were unsuccessful because the towing cable kept breaking.

“The Stromness lifeboat, which had been standing by, was also unsuccessful and the Coastguard ETV then took over the tow and they arrived in Kirkwall Friday morning.

“It was a gale-force wind at times with quite a rough sea. The weather made the journey very slow and uncomfortable.”

An operation to load the stricken Transocean Winner oil rig, in Broad Bay on Lewis, onto the Hawk heavy lifting vessel began yesterday morning, but had to be temporarily suspended due to increasingly rough sea conditions.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokeswoman said: “The Hawk and Transocean Winner remain at immediate readiness overnight and should the weather conditions improve, then the operation will resume as planned.

“The latest weather forecasts are predicting a further deterioration in wind and sea conditions from Sunday onwards so, unless the operation is resumed by noon on Saturday, it is likely that the Hawk will be stood down and the Transocean Winner put back onto her eight anchors.”

She added that further discussions would be held by the Secretary of State’s representative for maritime salvage and intervention Hugh Shaw with Transocean and Smit Salvage to look at other possible options for resolving the situation.

The 17,600 tonne rig crashed onto rocks at Dalmore after breaking free from its tow during a storm on August 8.

It was salvaged and towed to sheltered waters in Broad Bay, and is now destined for a scrap yard in Turkey.

Meanwhile, CalMac’s MV Hebrides ferry that was damaged when it crashed, hitting rocks and damaging pontoons, on North Uist on Sunday, completed her journey from Lochmaddy harbour to the Clyde yesterday.

A spokeswoman for the company said she would enter dry dock today , where work on repairs would begin.