Islanders shelter stranded ferry passengers

As island community has been praised for opening its homes to passengers who became stranded on a ferry when weather conditions worsened on Wednesday.

The CEO of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) Stuart Reid said conditions out at sea deteriorated "far beyond what had been forecast", preventing the Scillonian III from sailing from St Mary's to Penzance in Cornwall with 97 passengers onboard.

The ISSG also cancelled its sailing at 06:15 BST on Thursday due to the weather and strong winds. Thousands of people are travelling to the Isles of Scilly ahead of the World Pilot Gig Championships beginning on Friday.

Reid said the response from islanders was "nothing short of remarkable".

He said: "We reached out to members of the community through social media and it's always amazing how many people come forward, both accommodation providers and people just who open up their homes to disrupted passengers.

"Our teams worked really hard and we managed to get everybody accommodated with the support from the community."

He added: "The community on Scilly are absolutely amazing, so I'm sure there'll be many friendships formed."

The ISSG said it had adjusted its sailing timings on Thursday and Friday to ensure all passengers made it in time for the commencement of the gig championships, which take place over the busiest weekend of the year on the islands.

Reid said: "We've put on an additional sailing tomorrow [Friday] morning at 07:00 to accommodate those passengers who not able to travel on this morning's sailing.

"So, by tomorrow everybody will be in the correct position and I'm absolutely confident that gig weekend will start on time."

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