Fishing boat rescued after taking on water in Peterhead Harbour on New Year’s Day due to ice machine ‘malfunction’

Lifeboat, coastguard and fire rescue teams came to the aid of a fishing boat at Peterhead Harbour which was taking water on board on New Year’s Day after an ice machine reportedly malfunctioned.

An Aberdeen Coastguard spokesperson said the issue was linked to a pipe used to transfer ice onto the 40 metre vessel to preserve the fish caught at sea.

The spokesperson said: “There was an issue with the ice machine on the shore side. The machine malfunctioned.”

A fire service spokesperson said three appliances were called at about 1pm on Friday and crews worked to pump out the water before leaving the scene around 3:50pm.

Lifeboat, coastguard and fire rescue teams were called to the fishing boat in Peterhead Harbour on New Year's Day. Pic: RNLI Peterhead Lifeboat

Peterhead Lifeboat and coastguard teams from Peterhead and Cruden Bay were also called to assist.

A post on the Peterhead Lifeboat Facebook page said once the issue was fixed and the water was pumped out, the vessel “corrected its list” (the degree to which a boat tilts).

The call out was the first of 2021 for Peterhead’s lifeboat.

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The Peterhead Lifeboat crew were called to assist the fire service on Friday. Pic: RNLI Peterhead Lifeboat

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