A volunteer lifeboat spent 10 hours at sea and travelled 100 miles to rescue a training yacht with 16 people on board, the RNLI has said.

The Elizabeth Fairlie Ramsey lifeboat from Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull, launched at 10am yesterday to aid the 70ft training vessel which was struggling in rough seas off the Isle of Iona.

The RNLI said the propeller and rudder of the yacht had become stuck in lobster creel ropes.

When the lifeboat arrived at the scene a Royal Netherlands Navy warship was already assisting the training vessel.

The Tobermory lifeboat managed to pass a tow to the yacht bringing it into the wind and enabling it to be cut free from the creel ropes.

The lifeboat then towed the boat and its crew, which contained 11 young people, more than 30 miles to a marina on the Isle of Kerrera, near Oban, before returning to base. Deputy Second Coxswain Andrew McHaffie said: "When we launched this morning we expected this to be a routine towing operation.

"However, when we arrived on scene we were confronted not only with very challenging conditions with a two-metre swell but we were also very aware that there were young people on board the sail training vessel in rough seas.

"It was vital that we got the vessel under tow as quickly as possible."

Mr McHaffie also thanked the crew of the Dutch warship Friesland for their assistance in the rescue.

When the Elizabeth Fairlie Ramsey returned to Tobermory the crew calculated they had travelled almost 100 miles and circumnavigated the Isle of Mull.