An investigation has begun into the cause of a massive blaze at a north-east harbour which destroyed a fishing trawler.
The Inverness registered Ardent II was docked at Peterhead Harbour last Tuesday when, at around 6am, locals spotted the boat had gone up in flames.
Fire crews from across Aberdeenshire were sent to battle a blaze but it could not be saved.
And the fire was so ferocious that crews had to stay at the dock for more than 24 hours while temperatures on the outside of the 100-tonne trawler reached 200C.
At its peak, it involved 34 firefighters from Ellon, Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Maud.
No one was on board the vessel at the time of the blaze, but a fire engine remained on the scene well into the afternoon of Wednesday to cool the boat down so that investigators could move in.
Last night the Marine Accident Investigation Branch confirmed that work had now started to piece together the circumstances surrounding the blaze.
A spokesman said it could take months before findings are reached.
He said: “Our investigation is ongoing and we don’t have any update we can provide at this stage.
“We’re unlikely to be able to say anything before we publish a report on this accident.”
The Ardent is owned by the McPherson family from Hopeman, in Moray.
Patriarch Hamish McPherson, who now runs a bed and breakfast in Hopeman, skippered the 131ft boat before his son took over in 200.
He is understood have owned it since it was built in 1986.
He branded the blaze “devastating”.
“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack trying to find out how it happened,” he said.
“It was a shock to everyone but the bottom line is nobody was hurt and nobody was lost. We can fix and replace boats but we can’t replace human beings.”
The fire service has said their role in dealing with the blaze had been concluded.
Group manager Ally Birkett described it as “a very serious fire with an excessive amount of heat”.