A pregnant woman and her partner were rescued from rocks along the Moray shoreline after their boat ran aground.
The couple’s 20ft fibreglass vessel crashed just off the coast at Portknockie, and a lifeboat was launched from Buckie to retrieve them.
It is understood the man plunged into the water himself in a failed effort to pull the boat from the rocks, prior to contacting the emergency services.
The crew worked under cover of darkness to recover the boat, and eventually hauled it back into port at Buckie.
The woman – believed to be about 10 weeks pregnant – was carefully escorted onto a small rubber rescue craft and subsequently helped aboard the lifeboat.
The pair were later brought ashore at Buckie, where paramedics tended to the expectant female and brought her home.
The drama unfolded shortly after 8pm on Tuesday, and also involved a coastguard crew from Portsoy.
Yesterday, a spokesman for the Coastguard service confirmed that nobody was injured during the incident.
He said: “We received the call from Portknockie at about 8pm, saying that a boat had grounded on the rocks there.
“It was towed in, and both people on board were checked over and found to have suffered no injuries.”
It is understood the couple are European and their boat, Wera, is registered at Buckie Harbour.