Giant crane lifts stricken Astrid

A huge floating crane lifted the wreck of the tall ship Astrid from rocks off the Cork coast last night.

The 937-tonne Atlas, which arrived in Kinsale from England over the weekend, hauled the badly damaged training vessel to the surface just before 9pm after a two-hour operation under lights just to the east of Kinsale harbour.

The 95-year-old Dutch vessel had remained stuck fast on the rocks since running aground on Jul 24. All 30 people on board — 23 trainees and seven crew — were plucked to safety within minutes.