AN OIL tanker has run aground off The Needles this evening (Monday).

READ UPDATE: Grounded oil tanker update as it remains off Isle of Wight

The Liberian oil tanker is called Chem Alya and is 145 meters long.

The vessel was travelling to Alexandria, Egypt, from Southampton, before running around.

Yarmouth RNLI Lifeboat was launched shortly before 5pm and is currently at the scene.

The coastguard has said that the incident remains ongoing.

The incident is being picked up by isleofwight.com’s live stream from the Needles, which you can view here: www.isleofwight.com/webcams/needles/