A pilot boat that suffered severe damage when it ran aground last year has been returned to Bermuda after repairs in the US.

The pilot boat St David was left dead in the water as it took part in a training exercise last May.

The Government at first said that repairs would take up to eight weeks and cost $600,000.

But it was later discovered that, as well as damage to the boat’s propellers and driveshafts, repairs were needed to the main engines.

The St David arrived home from a boatyard in Massachusetts on the Oleander cargo ship.

Lawrence Scott, the Minister of Transport, is expected to give an update on the cost of the repairs – which is understood to be covered by insurance – later this week.

The crash happened as the boat was en route to the Northeast Breaker Beacon on May 6 last year.

The crew of four was uninjured but the boat’s propellers and driveshafts suffered severe damage and the vessel lost power.

Mr Scott told the House of Assembly last July that the craft had been delivered to a boatyard in Massachusetts.

He said that the repairs would take between four and eight weeks and cost $600,000.

But a spokeswoman for the ministry said last November that the pilot boat was still being repaired – more than two months after the work was expected to be completed.