Cargo ship remains aground in Pentland Firth

A cargo vessel which ran aground in the Pentland Firth remains stranded after initial attempts to refloat the vessel were unsuccessful.

The 89m ship Priscilla had six people on board when it got into difficulty at around 3.30am on Wednesday on the Pentland Skerries, north east of Duncansby Head on the Caithness coast.

The coastguard said the vessel had not suffered major damage and there was no sign of any pollution at the scene.

Efforts were made on Wednesday afternoon to tow the vessel from its current position.

But a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) later confirmed: After several attempts, the tugs on scene have been unable to refloat the cargo vessel Priscilla during the high water period.''

The MCA's emergency towing vessel (ETV) Ievoli Black is on standby after arriving on scene at around 5pm on Wednesday.

The spokeswoman continued: The ETV will be standing by the vessel overnight and it is unlikely that a further attempt will be made to refloat the vessel before the next high water period which is due at 4am on Thursday.

The Longhope RNLI lifeboat is also still on scene.

The vessel remains stable and there are still no signs of any major damage and no signs of any pollution. The crew remain safe and well.''

Once the vessel has been refloated, a stability assessment will be carried out.

Coastguard teams hope the ship will be safe enough to be escorted into Lyness, Orkney, for further inspection and any temporary repairs.