Four crew members have been rescued from a 500 ton ship that ran aground off the Isle of Skye on Tuesday.
An attempt to refloat Ocean Farm Services’ well boat Settler has failed.
The boat ran aground while transiting the narrow straights between Skye and the Scottish mainland, SalmonBusiness reported on Tuesday.
Kyle and Portree RNLI lifeboats were launched at about 18:45 on Tuesday after the 40 meter-long (131ft) well boat got into difficulty south of Kyle Rhea.
The crew transferred to another boat, before returning on Wednesday morning for an attempt to refloat the ship.
This was unsuccessful but it is to be attempted again later with assistance from an emergency towing vessel, according to the BBC.
UK coastguard authorities said no-one was hurt during the grounding and no pollution had been detected.
From its route it seems that the well boat had spent the last three days moving fish for Scottish Sea Farms and was sailing from the factory back to a site when it ran aground, according to data collected by business intelligence provider Aquafacts.
Settler, launched in 2002 is a purpose built live fish carrier. Her carrying capacity is 650 tons, with a current draught of 4.8 meters. She measures 40.06 meters in length overall and 10 meters in width.
Ocean Farm Services was formed in 2018 as part of a merger of Shetland-based Aurora Marine and North Isles Marine. The company recorded a turnover of £8.2 million (€9.5 million) for 2022, with profit before tax of £290,000 (€325,000) more than double that of the previous year.
