Five Belgian holidaymakers, including two teenagers, were rescued after their cruiser hit submerged rocks on Loch Ness.

The Loch Ness RNLI lifeboat went to the scene near Cherry Island when the alarm was raised at around 2pm yesterday.

No-one was injured in the incident and the vessel was pulled from the rocks and escorted to Fort Augustus about one mile away.

RNLI Loch Ness volunteer crew member Martin Douglas says: "This is something we train for regularly as there a quite a few areas on the loch where vessels can run aground.

"We were extremely fortunate to have crewmember Linda Izquierdo Ross on board the lifeboat as French is one of the many languages she can speak fluently. I'm sure this played a significant part in helping and reassuring the family"

Volunteers from the Inverness Coastguard team also responded and were on hand at Fort Augustus to help with mooring the cruiser and to carry out further checks.