Storm-hit Shetland ferry diverted to Rosyth

The weather left 87 people stranded on the Hjaltland ferry off Aberdeen

A ferry stranded off the north east coast of Scotland in "atrocious" high seas has docked in Fife after more than a day at sea.

Strong winds left 87 passengers stranded on the NorthLink passenger ferry Hjaltland.

The ferry was supposed to dock in Aberdeen at 0700 GMT on Monday after travelling overnight from Shetland.

It finally arrived in Rosyth at about 0124 GMT on Tuesday after a decision to take the ferry 100 miles south.

Two attempts were made to get the boat into the harbour at Aberdeen but on both occasions it was deemed unsafe to continue.

On Monday night, a decision was taken to re-route the ferry to Rosyth.

NorthLink said the passengers were provided with refreshments and those who did not have cabins were allocated spare ones.

Arrangements have been made for customers to get back to Aberdeen or to continue on to Edinburgh.

A NorthLink spokesman said: "Although sea and wind conditions from Aberdeen remained challenging, the journey to Rosyth was completed without incident and all passengers and freight were disembarked.

"We would like to thank all passengers for their patience and general good humour during the journey but would take this opportunity to apologise again for all of the inconvenience caused.

"Before we left Lerwick we alerted passengers to the fact that the sailing was likely to take place in some pretty foul weather but the conditions we did experience - heavy swell with winds gusting to 50 and 60 knots - were much worse than expected."

The spokesman said NorthLink continued to monitor the weather situation.