Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Orkney MV Varagen grounding: Three investigations taking place but no word on when ferry will be back in action

Orkney Ferries Varagen
The MV Varagen at Kirkwall Pier earlier this year. Image: Andrew Stewart / DC Thomson

There remains no word on when the Orkney Ferries Vessel MV Varagen will be back in action, after it ran aground near Rapness pier, Westray, last week.

Orkney Ferries’ crews and office staff have been praised for their “calm, reassuring and professional” response during the incident on Friday evening.

Three investigations are underway, which Orkney Council says is standard procedure.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch are conducting an inquiry, as well as internal investigations by Orkney Ferries and Orkney Harbours.

The council says the findings will be made in due course.

The Varagen ran aground 100m off Rapness pier. There were no reported injuries of the 41 passengers or ten crew on board.

There was no water ingress within the Varagen or pollution outwith and the vessel was refloated and berthed at Rapness. This allowed passengers to disembark before being safely tug escorted back to Kirkwall in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Hull of Varagen surveyed but no word on repairs

The hull of the vessel has also been surveyed by divers for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency who will decide what – if any – action is needed before she can re-enter service.

Orkney Ferries will be operating a two-ferry service in the meantime. Regular updates can be found on the Orkney Ferries web page.

The chair of Orkney Ferries chair is north isles councillor Mellissa Thomson.

She said the response from the members of the public onboard the Varagen during the incident has been “overwhelmingly positive”.

Councillor Thomson said: “I’d like to pay tribute to the crew for their very professional response, which included a calm and reassuring manner.

“This is exactly what is required when there is an incident of this nature. I am in no doubt that this helped those on board and their families immensely.

“This efficient response by all involved – including office-based staff – is down to the standard of training which all work to. My thanks go out to all.

“We are all entirely grateful that this incident ended as well as it did with no reported injuries and we now await the outcome of the three inquiries into what happened.”

The council’s Head of Marine Services, Transportation and Harbour Master, Jim Buck, said: “The staff handled the incident extremely well and ensured those on board were reassured following what must have been a frightening experience.

“The office staff rallied to deliver an efficient and professional service. They ensured those who were travelling and due to travel were prioritised throughout.

“I would also like to offer my thanks to the travelling public who remained calm throughout.

“This made the crew’s role in keeping people as informed as they could much easier.”

Conversation