Thick black smoke could be seen all over Inverkip after a 45 foot cabin cruiser was ablaze at Kip Marina on Saturday.

Fire crews rushed to the local marina on Saturday morning and arrived to find a serious fire on a boat.

The owners of the vessel were believed to have been planning to take a diving trip on Saturday and the blaze may have been caused by heaters on board.

The cabin cruiser, the Zambezi, was moored off a pontoon at the far end of the yacht haven, making it testing for the firefighters to extinguish the blaze. The wintry weather also caused problems for the two crews from Greenock fighting the fire due to the icy conditions.

Watch commander Stephen McKay said: "The vessel was totally burnt out. When crews arrived it was already well-alight.

"We had some difficulty getting to the boat because it was off one of the far away pontoons and ice also caused difficulties." Two crews arrived at the marina following reports of the fire at around 9.15am. They tackled the blaze and stayed at the scene until around 11.30am.

No one was on board the boat and no one was injured during the incident.