Volunteers from the Tobermory RNLI were involved in a 13-hour rescue mission yesterday.
The crew assisted in rescue efforts after a cargo ship ran aground in the Sound of Mull.
At around 8am on Wednesday, the volunteer crew at Tobermory was dispatched to help the UK Coastguard in a refloating operation.
The Liva Greta had run aground in the Sound of Mull close to Drimnin on the Morvern peninsula.
A member of the public had witnessed the vessel stuck and had alerted the coastguard.
While not directly involved in the operation, the lifeboat was on standby to assist, as the rising tide allowed the ship to be refloated.
The cargo ship’s crew raised the alarm that the Liva Greta was taking on water via its forepeak at the bow, although the water pumps managed to stem the flow coming in.
Following discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the lifeboat was asked to escort the cargo vessel towards its destination port of Corpach, north of Fort William.
Th crew covered a distance of 90 nautical miles during the call-out.
It was decided that on entering Loch Linnhe, the Oban lifeboat team would take over escorting the damaged vessel.
However, another incident in the nearby area had the Oban lifeboat reassigned to assist in that situation.
Tobermory lifeboat, therefore, continued to escort the cargo ship to Corpach before returning home to be refuelled and made ready for service at 9.30pm.
The call-out was a long one lasting 13 hours and covering a distance of 90 nautical miles.
Tobermory RNLI’s Lifeboat operations manager, Dr Sam Jones, said: ‘This was a long shout for our volunteers, but fortunately there was a good outcome with no injuries, serious damage or pollution.
“We’d like to thank the member of the public who saw the vessel run aground for alerting the Coastguard so promptly.
“This enabled us to quickly get to the scene to provide safety cover whilst the vessel tried to float itself off the reef.”
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