Nine salvage workers have been airlifted

The Bristows Super Puma that landed them on the Kodima could not be used because of low cloud.

Brixham coastguards scrambled a Royal Navy rescue helicopter from RN Culdrose, west Cornwall, to carry them to the cliff top.

Salvors will continue to put equipment on the ship over the next few days, weather permitting, said the Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

They were taken to a landing site prepared at the top of the cliffs overlooking the vessel.

Libya-bound

Its Russian crew had been winched to safety in gales off Plymouth at the weekend, but efforts to secure a line to the ship failed and it was driven ashore at Whitsand Bay.

It had been bound for Libya from Sweden with thousands of tons of pine planking, much of which washed ashore and started a wrecking frenzy.

Wreckers headed for the beaches

A reclamation firm has been contracted to recover the planks with special grabbing equipment.

The operation to salvage the Kodima began on Wednesday with a helicopter flying tons of equipment to the Maltese-registered ship.

Weather forecasters warned that the salvors would have only a short time to work before storms returned.

Refloating is now expected to be delayed for several days.

A three-mile air exclusion zone around the vessel is currently in place.