Hopes fade for 6 fishermen missing off Australia

SYDNEY — Six fishermen missing off Australian's east coast after their trawler capsized and sank in rough waters are presumed dead, as police said yesterday the "window of survivability had passed".

Just one of the crew, Ruben McDornan, was rescued from the commercial fishing boat which capsized on Monday.

Rescuers have been scouring the waters near Middle Island, north of the town of Seventeen Seventy in central Queensland state, but police said on Friday the hunt had switched to a recovery phase.

"Expert advice is that the window of survivability has now passed, and the search and rescue mission has now transitioned into the recovery phase," Queensland Police said in a statement. "This advice has been passed on to the family of the six men." McDornan, 32, survived 12 hours in rough conditions before being rescued by a passing yacht and was reunited with his family Thursday, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

His wife, named in local media as Sammy McDornan, thanked supporters in a Facebook post on Friday and added that he was "doing OK considering everything that has happened".

McDornan reportedly clung to the sea cucumber trawler's upturned hull for several hours before it sank, and told rescuers he had heard his crewmates trying to get out of the cabin.