Bodies found after trawler sinks

LONDON, England -- Rescuers have found the bodies of six fishermen, missing after their trawler sank in the Atlantic off Britain's Western Isles.

Ten crew members survived, coastguards said. Nine were on board a life raft but the other was rescued after apparently spending 12 hours in the icy waters.

RAF spokesman Michael Mulford said: "He really must have the survival instinct. This is quite exceptional in the history of search and rescue operations."

The rescue was carried out by a crew from RAF Kinloss in Scotland.

The nine other crew were airlifted to safety in a major sea-and-air rescue operation, involving British and Canadian aircraft and several ships in the area, a Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesman said on Tuesday.

One German and 15 Spaniards were on board the German-registered Hansa when it went down in freezing waters off the Western Isles.

The rescue operation was launched after the 30-metre (98-foot) trawler, which had set sail from the Spanish port of La Coruna, got into difficulties then went down approximately 240 miles west of Tiree.

An urgent distress signal was picked up by the coastguards at 11.10 p.m. local time (2310 GMT) on Monday.

A Canadian Aurora aircraft, which was on exercise in the area at the time, was sent to the scene and was joined by a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss.

Four vessels -- one British and three Norwegian -- helped in the search for survivors.

Coastguard spokesman Mark Clark said: "The nine who were recovered were all in a life-raft, and were all suffering from hypothermia. Some were wearing survival suits and some were not."

The nine were taken to an army medical centre in Benbecula, in the Western Isles.

The other crew member was airlifted to a hospital in the town where he is described as "comfortable".

Reuters contributed to this report.

Search for missing trawler crew
March 6, 2001

Maritime and Coastguard Agency

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