Research was underway to find three sailors missing in the sinking of their boat Thursday morning December 8 after a collision with a ferry off Jersey, according to the Maritime Prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.
According to the Jersey Coastguard, the collision occurred between a ferry, the Commodore Goodwill, and a Jersey fishing vessel shortly after 5.30am this morning.
"
There were three people on board the fishing vessel: the captain and two crew members
," the Coast Guard said in a statement posted on Twitter.
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Fishing vessels and drones
“
The Jersey Coastguard continues to coordinate a major search and rescue operation
,” they say.
They claim to have deployed rescue boats from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and two French rescue helicopters.
"
Many local fishing vessels also helped in the search, as well as drones
," said the Jersey Coast Guard.
The maritime prefecture confirmed around 4:00 p.m. on Twitter that research is "
still in progress
", the arrival at the scene of a Dragon helicopter from Civil Security and two aerial devices from the French Navy.
“
The ship is presumed to have sunk in around 40 m depth, which requires specialized diving means
”, specify the Jersey coastguards.
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A ship working on the off-shore wind farm site in Saint-Brieuc must arrive on site accompanied by remote control vehicles to confirm the location of the ship, add the coastguards.
The Goodwill returned to Elizabeth Harbour, the Saint Helier terminal in Jersey.
“He sometimes came to eat with us”
According to
Ouest-France
, the missing owner of the boat, a man in his sixties, is known to Granville (Manche).
"
We went back (...) He sometimes came to eat with us, we also knew his wife and his two daughters
", confided the owner of a restaurant opposite the port of the town.
"
I've been maintaining his boat for at least twenty-five years
," said a shipwright from the city, still at Ouest France.
Jean Morin, president of the Manche Departmental Council, sent him his "
sadden thoughts (...) to the families of these three fishermen, well known in Granville since this trawler regularly landed his catch there under the auction
".
