Isles of Scilly community shelters 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”.