Storm Ciara: Dunbar and Anstruther lifeboats spend nine hours rescuing fishing boat which lost power

The lifeboat crews managed to tow the vessel to safety in 10ft-high waves and 60mph gusts.

The fishing vessel under tow. Pic: RNLI

Lifeboat teams from Dunbar and Anstruther helped a stranded fishing boat to safety after it lost power during Storm Ciara in a nine-hour rescue.

The Ullapool registered vessel lost its steering after setting sail from Eyemouth for a night's fishing in the early hours of Sunday.

But when the crew shut down power to try and rectify the problem they found their engine had failed and, after making several attempted to restart the boat, alerted the coastguard.

Dunbar and Anstruther RNLI worked together to rescue the stranded fishing boat.

The RNLI Anstruther lifeboat was launched at about 1:30am and began towing the 20ft fishing boat to Pittenweem Harbour before requesting assistance from the Dunbar team. The Dunbar lifeboat launched at 2:50am and took over the tow, just north west of the Isle of May, in a bid to reach Pittenweem before the tide turned.

However, by 4am there was an ebbing tide and it wasn't possible to safely enter the harbour. A decision was made to take the fishing boat to Methill, where the tide would be more favourable, at about 11am.

Both crews managed to safely moor the boat in Methill amid three-metre waves and wind gusts of up to 60mph, shortly after 11am.

Dunbar deputy second coxswain, Gordon Mackay, said: “We were more than happy to assist our RNLI colleagues at Anstruther. It was a tricky job in challenging conditions and we were delighted it went well."