OCEAN LIGHT aground

During the blustery conditions around lunchtime today, the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier OCEAN LIGHT, which had sailed from Glasgow shortly before, ended up going aground opposite Langbank. At the time of grounding, the tide was at its highest, and despite the best efforts of tugs, she remained fast aground. The ship was built in 1977 in Japan, and originally named TOMEI MARU. In 1986, she was renamed GLORY FIELD, becoming GOODPAL two years later. She was given her present name in 1999. With an overall length of 196.5 metres, her deadweight is 39,287 tonnes. She had been discharging animal feeds at Glasgow, and was sailing for Antwerp. As the tide fell away, the ship began to list and around half of her crew were taken off. Another attempt at refloating her is due to be made at high water, which will be around 0200 on Saturday morning. This picture shows the bulker stuck fast with the tugs WARRIOR III and SVITZER MALLAIG alongside. An excellent selection of views showing the ship aground earlier this afternoon, and the attempts by tugs to refloat her, can be seen here.