Bodies of all three missing fishermen found

At the end of January, a fishing vessel went missing off the North Wales coast. Volunteer lifeboat crews from Hoylake, Llandudno, Rhyl, and Conwy were launched to help search for the missing fishing vessel and its crew.

Today, North Wales Police announced that the bodies of all three men had been found. A force spokesperson said, “We are aware that the bodies of three men have been recovered from the coastline off the Wirral and Blackpool over the weekend.

We have been in contact with colleagues from both Merseyside and Lancashire police, and we await the outcome of the Home Office post mortem examinations.

The families of the missing crew members from the vessel ‘Nicola Faith’ have been kept informed, and continue to be supported by specialist officers.

We would request that they are given the necessary privacy at this difficult time.”

In January, seven RNLI lifeboats joined the multi-agency search, with some lifeboat out for nearly 12 hours at sea. Llandudno, Rhyl, Conwy, Beaumaris and Hoylake RNLI volunteers joined volunteer Coastguard teams and other emergency services in the search.

The coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon and fixed-wing coastguard aircraft, hwere all involved in an extensive search, along with North Wales Police.

At the time of the search, Duty Controller for HM Coastguard Rob Priestley said, “We have carried out highly-concentrated and thorough searches of wide areas off the north coast of Wales to locate this vessel – using all available resources – but, sadly, nothing has been found so far. Our thoughts are with the family and friends and the wider community at this difficult time.

“We would like to thank all of the teams and crews who have been involved with and participated in this large scale search effort since Thursday, as well as those vessels in the area and local community at large who have helped to provide as much information as possible to aid the search efforts.”

Main image : Hoylake RNLI at the time of the search in January. Credit: Hoylake RNLI.