A YACHT blown onto Chesil Beach in a night-time drama has been successfully removed.

The Echo reported how the lone sailor had scrambled ashore after his vessel ran aground in challenging conditions at Chesil Cove, Portland on Monday night.

The sailor was taken in by local people and coastguards worked to secure the vessel. He then stayed at the Aqua Hotel on the island before visiting Apex Diving and Marine, a commercial diving contractor based in Portland Marina, early the next morning.

The team there was able to quickly arrange for one of its boats and a salvage team to get over to Chesil Cove before safely dragging the yacht off the beach and towing it to Portland Marina.

Ian Taylor, director of Apex, said: "We had to make sure the vessel was salvaged properly. The biggest problem for us was the weather we were having was very poor so we were up against it time-wise.

"The boat had been there all night getting crashed about by the waves so it had taken on a considerable amount of water. All that seawater inside the boat needed to be bailed out before we could start dragging it off the beach.

"The boat actually wasn't in a bad condition, it was water damage on the inside mainly. If we didn't get it pulled off by Tuesday night it would have been in bits."