A Swiss family had a lucky escape after their holiday cruiser ran aground onto rocks on Loch Ness.
The boat was blown ashore by string winds after losing power in Urquhart Bay.
Loch Ness volunteers described the rescue as “extremely challenging” with the cruiser hard aground.
The people on the boat were asked to jump and move around to help the lifeboat pull the cruiser free.
Loch Ness lifeboat helm Joy Cameron said it could have proved extremely difficult to rescue the family if they had not been able to get the boat clear of the rocks.
All four people aboard the cruiser escaped without injury but were described as “shaken” by the lifeboat crew.
They were heading south out of Urquhart Bay towards Fort Augustus when they got into difficulty.
It is believed a rope from the cruiser dropped from the boat deck into the water and became tangled in the propeller, causing the vessel to lose power.
The ship was then blown ashore, just a few hundred yards from the Loch Ness lifeboat station by a strong south-easterly wind.
The three-strong lifeboat crew were tasked to go to the rescue just before 12.15pm.
Helm Mrs Cameron said: “It was very challenging.
“It took forever and it was a really tricky rescue. It was well ashore and they still getting blown about by quite a strong wind.
“We managed to get the people on board to rock the boat about and get a bit of movement as we tried to tow it with the lifeboat, trying from a few different angles and that kind of thing.
“It finally came away, I don’t know what we would have done if it hadn’t.”
Mrs Cameron said the loch conditions and the position of the cruiser would have made it impossible to take the family aboard the lifeboat safely.
The lifeboat crew towed the cruiser back to the harbour in Urquhart Bay to be checked over by the holiday hire company and for the tangled rope to be removed from the propeller.
