Alert as ferry takes on water

The ferry began to take on water

Emergency services were put on full alert when a ferry broke down and started taking on water.

The European Navigator, which carries commercial vehicles, was travelling from Troon in Ayrshire to Larne in Northern Ireland with 28 people on board.

Two lifeboats were launched and a rescue helicopter was put on stand-by at Prestwick when the alarm was raised shortly before 0300BST on Friday.

However, the crew managed to restart the engines about an hour later and the vessel was able to continue its journey.

The vessel's engines were restarted after the fault with a leaking cooling system was fixed.

The ferry's progress was monitored by coastguards every half an hour.