Aberdeen Harbour could earn around £100,000 from the sale of a ship stranded in Scotland for almost a year, STV News understands.

The Malaviya Seven was detained last October after it emerged her crew had not been paid in months and they are now due almost £670,000.

While they have won the right to sell the ship and recover their wages, Aberdeen Harbour is also seeking to cover its costs.

The ship's stay in port is understood to have racked up a bill of around £100,000.

The union representing the crew, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), said it will not agree to any deal which takes money out of their hands.

The crew may still be left out of pocket if the ship sells for less than the amount they are due, however, with one estimate putting its sale price at £850,000 and its scrap value at £670,000.

Several seafarers have been forced to take out loans to support their families, including chief officer Bamadev Swain, one of 11 Indian sailors remaining aboard the Seven.

"I have had a very unpleasant and miserable time," he said. "I'm very sad inside because my wife never thought she would have to face these problems.

"We've taken loans with very high rates of interest. All the [money] she had saved is gone.

"When my daughter asks my wife 'when is papa coming?' it is really painful for me."

Some 24 past and present crew are due money and the sailors still aboard the Seven had to agree to cap their future collective daily wages at £1100 to secure permission to sell the ship.

The crew have been supported by local charities during their time in Scotland and were taken in by the city's Catholic community at Christmas.

A spokesman for Aberdeen Harbour Board said: "Malaviya Seven has been in port since September 10, 2016, and no associated harbour dues have been paid during this period.

"Beyond that, it is inappropriate for Aberdeen Harbour Board to comment on matters of commercial confidentiality."

The Malaviya was detained twice last year over unpaid wages. It was first held in June after being contracted to BP.

The crew were eventually paid and the ship was released but it returned to Aberdeen under a different contract two months later and detained on identical charges.

Foreign sailors working in the North Sea were owed more than £1m in unpaid wages last year alone, according to an STV News investigation supported by the ITF.