The 65m long cargo ship, CEG universe carrying 1200 tonnes of cargo was rescued by lifeboats down the coast of Skye.
What happened?
The vessel carrying 1200 tonnes of road salt to Gairloch, was heading through the notorious Kylerhea Narrows between Skye and Glenelg when it became stuck with a broken rudder.
The cargo ship was using its anchor to attempt to hold position against the strong eight-knot tide, when an RNLI lifeboat crew from Kyle of Lochalsh arrived for rescue shortly before 08:00 on Sunday. But the ship’s anchor failed and as it began to drift further backwards, a crew from Mallaig was called in.
The Rescue Operation
The lifeboats kept the vessel under tow until the SD Kyle of Lochalsh, a tug boat from British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre military testing range arrived at 10.15, following which the ship was towed to the Kyle Harbour, shortly after noon.
“There’s not much room in the Narrows and with the length of the vessel we weren’t far from the shore but with the power of the bigger Mallaig lifeboat we were able to hold in position. It was thanks to the SD Kyle of the Lochalsh that we managed to get it out, without them we would have really struggled to get it out the Narrows”, said Andrew MacDonald, of the Kyle of Lochalsh lifeboat.
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