Six sailors feared dead after Irish Sea cargo ship sinks in high winds
Body of one member of Russian crew recovered as coastguard searches for remaining five off coast of north Wales
One sailor has died and five more are missing after a huge wave snapped the hull of a cargo ship off the coast of north Wales, sinking the vessel almost instantly.
Two members of the eight-strong Russian crew were pulled from the water by an RAF rescue helicopter soon after the 81m Swanland sank approximately 10 miles west of the Llyn peninsula, following a 2amdistress call on Sunday. The body of one other crew member has been recovered and there are fears for the fate of the other five, even though some were believed to be wearing survival suits.
The two rescued sailors, who were flown to RAF Valley in Anglesey, described how the ship was sunk by a sudden, huge wave in stormy weather of gale force eight and above.
"One of the survivors said that there were five of them on deck at the time, wearing survival suits because of the conditions and there were three either below or within the accommodation," said Ray Carson, the watch manager at Holyhead coastguard. "He described a huge wave rolling the ship, and she broke her back. It was a catastrophic failure, and she obviously sank very quickly after that."
Prince William is among the search and rescue pilots based at RAF Valley. The helicopter used to save the men, Rescue 122, is a Sea King flown by the prince in his first operation in October last year. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said he did not know whether William had been involved in Sunday's rescue.
Two other cargo vessels in the area at the time played a key role in saving the two men. A tanker, the Bro Gazelle, was very close to the Swanland when it sunk and helped provide shelter and light before the heli! copters and lifeboats arrived. The two survivors were found clinging to a life raft. Another vessel, the Monsoon, spent the night searching for survivors.
The search is continuing, now involving one helicopter from the Dublin coastguard and an RAF craft from the Chivenor base in Devon, as well as the Pwllheli and Porth Dinllaen lifeboats.
Two life rafts had been spotted in the water, Carson said. One was presumed to be empty, as it is the raft the survivors clung to. The other has washed up under cliffs at the tiny island of Bardsey, and helicopter crews were attempting to discover if anyone was inside. Weather conditions remained "fairly wild", he added.
The stretch of water is notoriously rough, Carson said. In January 1991 another cargo ship, the Kimya, was capsized by giant waves in a very similar spot, causing its consignment of palm oil to leak into the sea.
The Swanland, with a gross weight of 1,978 tonnes, was carrying limestone from Raynes Jetty near Colwyn Bay to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Comments