Transport minister calls for Orkney ferry grounding probe

Transport Minister Kevin Stewart has called for an investigation into a ferry running aground on Orkney to be completed "sooner rather than later".

He confirmed MV Pentalina would be out of service until at least Wednesday.

Smoke was detected in the engine room on Saturday before it was grounded near the village of St Margaret's Hope.

Sixty passengers, including three children and an infant, were evacuated. A sudden mechanical failure is likely to be the cause, the coastguard said.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is surveying the ferry to assess damage and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is expected to attend on Tuesday.

Mr Stewart told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme: "The MAIB look at any situation that has occurred aboard vessels, any accident, and I'm quite sure that they will report back to the MCA around about their findings."

He added: "This is obviously of great interest, not only to (the MCA and MAIB), but to the Scottish government, the likes of Orkney Islands Council and others.

"We have to get to the bottom of what happened here and I hope that happens sooner rather than later."

Pentland Ferries sails across the Pentland Firth from Gills Bay in Caithness to St Margaret's Hope on the Orkney Islands.

The Pentalina had been issued with a passenger ship safety certificate following surveys of the vessel on 18 April.

It came back into service last week to release another ferry, the MV Alfred, to service routes on Scotland's west coast.

The vessel suffered technical problems on Friday then on Saturday night the ferry grounded on the shoreline, about 100 yards (91m) from its destination in Orkney.

While the Pentalina is out of service, Mr Stewart said that Northlink Ferries' summer timetable would be running which includes three daily sailings between Scrabster and Stromness.

Scottish Tory transport spokesman Graeme Simpson called for an investigation into why the safety certificate was given to the Pentalina just weeks before it ran aground.

"I'm on the same page as the RMT on this," he told BBC Scotland.

"There needs to be a full investigation into what's gone on, why was that vessel given approval, only to then break down?"

And Orkney Lib Dem MSP, Liam McArthur, said: "There are serious questions for the Government here, which is why I have called for the transport minister to come to parliament on Tuesday to answer questions on this matter.

"As well as addressing the loss of freight and passenger capacity on the Pentland Firth, the minister will also need to respond to concerns within the local community that the urgency with which the vessel was required to enter service had a bearing on events."

The incident comes after the MV Alfred ran aground in the Pentland Firth in Swona in July last year, with 97 people on board who were transferred to lifeboats.