Missing vessel located off Orkney

The yacht was due to arrive at Aberdeen harbour on Saturday

A Polish yacht which went missing on its way to Aberdeen carrying seven crew has been found off the Orkney islands.

A search was launched for the Syrenka, when it failed to arrive in Aberdeen on Saturday after leaving Iceland.

The 46ft (14m) yacht, which is suffering engine problems, had communications restored before midnight on Saturday.

All those on board are safe and the vessel has been towed into harbour by a lifeboat from Stromness, Orkney.

Coastguards in the Faroes, Iceland, Stornoway and Shetland had all tried to make radio contact.

A relief crew expressed "grave concerns" that the yacht had failed to make contact.

Alarm raised

Before the vessel was found a spokesman for Aberdeen Coastguard said they were trying to alert all shipping and harbours throughout the area.

They also alerted some of the offshore oil industry off Shetland and raised the alert level to Pan Pan, which is one level below Mayday.

The yacht was believed to have left the Icelandic port of Keflavik last Sunday.

The last time it made contact was when one of the crew members called his sister in Poland using a mobile phone when it was just south of Iceland on Monday.

The alarm was raised by a family member of one of the crew at about 1200 BST when the Syrenka failed to appear.

The coastguard had said communication was key in the effort to find the vessel, which could have been anywhere in a 200,000 square mile area of sea.