Channel search ends for two missing French fishermen

The UK coastguard said Monday it had concluded its search for two fishermen missing after the French fishing vessel Maranello sank in the Channel.

A Maritime and Coastguard Agency spokesperson said no trace of the two missing fishermen had been found despite “extensive and intensive searches” since Saturday night. The agency said the decision was based on the available information and the known limits of human survivability in the water temperature.

The Maranello trawler sent a distress call on Saturday off the coast of the English port of Plymouth, reporting problems with its fishing gear, France's Atlantic prefecture said over the weekend.

Five crew members were on board. A nearby trawler rescued three of them before the Maranello sank, the prefecture said.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said Sunday evening that the three rescued people were travelling back to France and that joint French and British sea and air rescue operations had been suspended. One rescued sailor had been airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in England, while two others were taken to Plymouth.