A 10m yacht that ran aground two miles north of Hook Head, in County Wexford, Ireland is believed to have drifted free from its moorings.

Volunteer lifeboat crew launched yesterday morning following reports of the grounded cruiser.

Upon arrival, the lifeboat crew found the unmanned yacht sitting deep in the water,  perilously close to the rocks.

First on scene was Fethard RNLI Inshore lifeboat whose crew established a tow with the yacht, however this proved unsuccessful.

Shortly after, Dunmore East RNLI Lifeboat arrived on scene and put two crew on board the casualty vessel with a pump to try and drain the water from the yacht and establish a tow to recover it to a nearby harbour.

However, once on board, the lifeboat crew discovered that the yacht had taken on a large amount of water and that it was in danger of sinking.  When they attempted to establish a tow the vessel dangerously dipped low into the water and the attempt was abandoned.

The Irish Coast Guard Rescue Helicopter Rescue 117 were also called out to the incident.

A decision was taken to leave the vessel as it was determined that the crew were in danger if they stayed on the yacht.

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Dunmore East RNLI Lifeboat spokesman Neville Murphy said, ‘The yacht had taken on a huge amount of water and as such it proved too difficult to safely recover her. Once it was established that there was no threat to life and it was clear it was too dangerous to safely recover the vessel we made the right decision to step away.’
At present the vessel is still aground and an attempt may be made to recover her at low water.