Beached fishing trawler refloated

The Bruno waits to be towed back to sea after beaching on Gower Enlarge Image

A fishing trawler which had been stranded on the Gower peninsula has been refloated.

A major rescue operation took place after the boat Bruno grounded on the beach at Rhossili on Tuesday.

Lifeguards and coastguards had worked unsuccessfully for hours to tow the 50 ft (15m) vessel free.

Swansea Coastguard managed to free the vessel, with support from the RNLI, on Wednesday afternoon when the high tide started to rise again.

Rhossili on Gower has also been listed among 10 coastal resorts at risk of coastal erosion

Four crew members had to be taken off by lifeboat when the Bruno, which had sailed from Devon in search of whelks, slipped anchor during Monday night.

Swansea coastguard received a Mayday call at 0220 BST.

They said a rescue team had been at the scene with the Bruno throughout the night and day reporting back to the operations room.

The Tenby RNLI all-weather lifeboat and Burry Port's inshore RNLI lifeboat provided safety cover for the refloating operation in the afternoon.