An 80m long ship which ran aground near a lighthouse in an important wildlife haven could remain stuck for another fortnight if it is not shifted tomorrow, an RNLI spokesman said.
The MV Danio was heading from Perth to Antwerp, Belgium, when it got caught on rocks in the Farnes Islands, three miles off the Northumberland coast, at 4.30am on Saturday.
The vessel, carrying timber, was not thought to be badly damaged and there were no reports of any fuel leak after she got stuck on the Blue Caps, close to the Longstone Lighthouse.
A meeting between salvagers, the National Trust which looks after the islands and pollution control experts has taken place this morning.
Ian Clayton, of Seahouses RNLI, which has been monitoring the situation, said: "They are waiting for more salvage equipment to be brought in and it is extremely unlikely that there will be any attempt today.
"However, they will be making a determined effort, I suspect, tomorrow evening. If they cannot get it off tomorrow, the chances are it will be stuck for another fortnight."
Mr Clayton said lower tides over the next two weeks would hamper any attempt to remove the Danio.
Storms were due to hit the area next week, so the skipper has filled the ballast tanks with sea water to make the vessel more stable, Mr Clayton said.
The Farne Islands are internationally known for the thousands of puffins who live there, as well as 6,000 grey seals and more than 20 bird species that breed there.
Heroine Grace Darling won national fame aged just 22 after she carried out a daring rescue with her father William, who was a lighthouse keeper on one of the Farnes, in 1838.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article