Five crew rescued after boat runs aground in Kirkcudbright bay
- Published
The boat has been repaired and floated along to Kirkcudbright harbour
A commercial fishing boat has run aground in Kirkcudbright bay on the Solway Firth.
The scallop dredger, from Kilkeel in Northern Ireland, got stuck at about 02:30.
The crew of five was helped to safety by a local RNLI lifeboat and no-one was injured but puncture holes were discovered in the vessel.
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency co-ordinated recovery efforts and it was refloated by about 14:00.
Senior Coastal Operations Officer Stewart Bryden said: "We had a report of a vessel run aground in the Kirkcudbright bay area.
"Teams were tasked to the location and five persons were taken off board safely and onto dry land.
"We then discovered that the boat had puncture holes.
"We are hoping on high water to get it refloated and up to Kirkcudbright harbour."
That operation proved successful and the boat was afloat again by early afternoon.
The recovery and rescue operation began in the early hours of Friday morning