Longliner Masilik, which ran aground last night on the Vatnsleysuströnd coastline west of Iceland’s capital region, was towed off during the night and towed to Hafnarfjörður.
There are as yet no indications of why the Royal Greenland longliner ran aground.
The scene was attended by Coast Guard vessel Freyja, which arrived during the night. 14 of Masilik’s 19 crew were taken off by Landsbjörg lifeboats Sjöfn and Stefnir and taken to Vogar, leaving five crew and two of Freyja’s crew on board the longliner.
A 750 metre tow line was secured between Masilik and Freyja, which successfully towed the longliner free and from there to Hafnarfjörður where harbour tug Hamar took over to manoeuvre Masilik alongside.
There was some ingress of water to Masilik at the grounding location, but the pumps on board plus one pump supplied by Freyja coped easily.
Main image: Landhelgisgæslan
