Fish carrier grounded off Skye refloated safely

The 500-tonne ship that hit the rocks off Skye has been refloated.

The 40-metre live salmon carrier the Settler, has been escorted to Mallaig after floating clear of the rocks on Wednesday evening.

The vessel, known as a wellboat in the fish farm industry, ran aground in the Kylerhea and Glenelg area on Tuesday evening.

Kyle and Portree RNLI lifeboats went to the scene shortly before 8pm but the tide was too low to attempt to refloat the Settler and the four crew were taken off to another vessel to wait for high tide.

They re-boarded on Wednesday and the Settler floated clear on the high tide at 6.30pm with the help of another vessel and escorted to Mallaig by the Mallaig RNLI lifeboat to be checked for damage.

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