HM COASTGUARD is urging the public to steer clear of a life raft which has washed up at Talybont after being blown overboard a cargo vessel in high winds.

The life raft, which has attracted attention locally after being washed up on the Meirionnydd beach on Sunday, 29 November, was blown overboard off the Wilson Calais cargo vessel on the evening of Friday, 27 November as it was on route to Ireland.

The coastguard says they have now secured the life raft and will be returning it to its ship as soon as possible.

A spokesperson for HM Coastguard in Holyhead said they would like to urge the public to steer clear of the life raft after reports some members of the public had been tampering with it.

The spokesman said: “We received a report from the Wilson Calais on the evening of Friday, 27 November that they had lost their life raft during strong winds on route to Ireland.

“The life raft then took two days to wash up on the beach between Golden Sands Holiday Park and Islawrffordd Caravan Park.

“The coastguard team have now secured the life raft so it doesn’t drift off. The Wilson Calais is currently in Dublin Port waiting for its life raft to be returned.

“As we are waiting for the arrangemments to be made in regards to returning the life raft we would like to ask the public to stay away from it.

"We have had reports come through that some have been tampering with the life raft and climbing on board so we would like to remind the public that this is private property that is waiting to be returned to its owners.

“We would like to politely ask people to leave it alone; it is not something to be tampered with as there are also dangerous parts to the life raft which could cause injury.”