Riverdance gets stuck on way to Heysham (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Riverdance gets stuck on way to Heysham

10:09am Friday 1st February 2008 in

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Crew and passengers were airlifted from a Heysham-bound roll-on roll-off ferry when it grounded off Blackpool.

The Riverdance got into difficulties in the Irish Sea on Thursday night.

It was sailing from Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland when a Mayday was sent out.

Rescue Helicopters from Royal Navy, RAF and Irish Coastguard spent the night on the scene and 14 people including the four passengers were winched off and transferred to Blackpool airport.The nine crew remaining on board are ballasting the vessel to improve stability while aground. SOSREP, Secretary of States Representative for Salvage is monitoring the situation and is currently in contact with the owners of the vessel, Seatruck Ferries, to agree plans for re-floating the vessel. There is no reported oil pollution from the vessel. Kevin Hobbs, the chief executive of Seatruck Ferries Limited, defended the decision to run the service in bad weather.

"When the vessel sailed there was no cause for concern," he says.

"There are many ships at sea at the moment in these conditions and we've just been extremely unlucky."