20 June 2008

AN overdue yacht participating in the annual Bergen to Shetland race has been spotted 18 miles southeast off Lerwick.

The Lerwick lifeboat has now been launched to provide an escort to the 21ft Paradis which has two crew on board.

A full scale search was launched last night after the yacht failed to arrive at Lerwick Harbour. The last contact with the crew had been at 2pm on Wednesday, shortly after she had left Bergen.

This morning, a spokesman for Shetland Coastguard said the yacht at been spotted by an Nimrod aircraft at 7.30am and everybody on board was safe and well.

The escort is expected to arrive in Lerwick Harbour at around 3pm.