Crews to study cruise ship rescue

Increasing numbers of tourists are coming to Scotland by cruise ships

Emergency services are to perform a "paper exercise" on how they would respond to an accident involving a cruise liner off the Scottish coast.

The Highlands, Shetland and Orkney have seen a major increase in passenger ship tourism.

The exercise, which runs until Friday, is hosted in Nairn on the Moray Firth by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

Representatives of rescue crews from Europe and Canada will be taking part in the three-day seminar.

North Sea

Invergordon on the Cromarty Firth expects to see the visit of about 50 cruise ships carrying almost 40,000 passengers this year.

Nick Bryant, MCA area operations manager for East Scotland, said the exercise would be relevant to cruise businesses as well as emergency services.

He said: "This is a wonderful opportunity for all interested parties, emergency services and commercial organisations to engage in an exercise to further develop current plans and share best practice within the northern North Sea community."