Seabed scan for clues to trawler loss

AN underwater investigation has begun in a bid to establish the cause of the Nancy Glen trawler tragedy.

John Miller, 34, from Tarbert, Argyll, was rescued by a passing vessel after the prawn trawler capsized in Loch Fyne on January 18.

Skipper Duncan MacDougall, 46, and crewmate Przemek Krawczyk, 38, both of Tarbert, were lost in the sinking.

A spokesman for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) confirmed yesterday that an initial sonar scan had been carried out, from the surface, by Northern Lighthouse Board vessel Pharos. The MAIB spokesman said: ‘Our inspectors are in the early stages of the investigation and have been having meetings with the families to update them on progress and our future plans.

‘We have contracted a team to conduct an underwater ROV (remotely operated vehicle) survey of Nancy Glen, which is lying at a depth of 140m [459ft].’

More than £207,000 has been raised on crowdfunding site Justgiving in only two weeks. The cash will help fund the lifting of the boat from the seabed if the authorities refuse to do this and will otherwise go to the families of the two men.

Hundreds of people attended an openair-ceremony at Tarbert quayside on Saturday night when an electric candle was switched on by local Fishermen’s Mission superintendent Matthew Ramsay.