Cruise ship runs aground off Oban

Divers will today examine the hull of a cruise ship which ran aground in Oban Bay, on the west coast of Scotland.
MS Serenissima, carrying 61 passengers and 51 crew, was successfully refloated in the early hours of this morning after being stuck on a sand and shingle bank known as the Corran Ledge.
There were no reports of injuries and no signs of pollution or serious damage to the vessel.
The RNLI lifeboat tried to help pull Serenissima free, but early attempts yesterday evening were hampered by strong winds.
RNLI spokesman Iain Fulton said: “The vessel was aground at the bow but still afloat at the stern. The initial attempt at refloating the ship used its own engine with the lifeboat providing assistance by pulling at the stern.
“Unfortunately this attempt was hampered by a strong wind blowing the ship towards the shore and was unsuccessful.”
Serenissima, built in 1960, was originally the Hurtigruten ship Harald Jarl. The vessel was re-named Andrea in 2003 and cruised to Greenland, Norway, the Baltic, the Mediterranean and to Antarctica for Elegant Cruises.
Another major refit took place last year and the ship is currently operated by Noble-Caledonia on a succession of Hebridean voyages.
John MacKinnon, of holiday rental company Clan Cottages, who took the picture above, said the ship would have to wait until high tide at 8.0 am, adding “It will be a long night.”
The ship, which left Poole in Dorset on May 11 and had been making its way from Ireland into Oban, is due to begin an eight-day cruise today from Oban to Iona, Skye, St Kilda, Eriskaa, Mingulay and Barra.
Lifeboat Coxswain John Hill told The Herald the ship had approached the harbour on the wrong side of an entrance buoy. “The ship went on the wrong side of the buoy, it may well be that it had a problem, to make it go on the wrong side, we don’t know yet.”