Terror of crabbing crew blasted by WW2 bomb

SEVEn crab f i shermen were badly injured when a suspected Second World War bomb blasted their boat out of the water.

The massive explosion ruptured the hull of the 42ft ship and tore apart the wheelhouse.

As water flooded into the engine room, the two Britons and five Latvians escaped on a life raft – 25 miles out to sea.

The skipper managed to text another ship and a lifeboat came to their rescue.

The three most seriously injured were flown to hospital by a Coastguard helicopter.

Details of the catastrophe on the morning of December 15 have been revealed in a report by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

Several of the men suffered life-changing injuries when their boat, Galwad-Y-Mor – Welsh for call of the sea – came into contact with the mine or bomb that was probably pulled up from the seabed as they hauled in crab pots.

The crew abandoned ship north of Cromer, norfolk, and the three that were not taken away by helicopter were treated on shore by

Thrown into the air: The 42ft boat and its wrecked wheelhouse paramedics before being transferred to hospital.

The report confirmed there was ‘nothing that the crew could have done to prevent the accident’. It continued: ‘ The source of the explosion has not been determined but it was possible that old munitions on the seabed were disturbed as the vessel hauled its pots.’ Describing the moments leading up to the blast, the report said: ‘The hauler was being used to heave in the back rope and the crew had let the skipper know that there was a lot of tension on the line when there was an unexpected explosion.

‘Galwad-Y-Mor was thrown up from the sea surface, then landed heavily back down. All propulsion and electrical power was immediately lost.

‘The skipper was injured and dazed but conscious and saw that the wheelhouse had been completely wrecked.

‘As he became aware that other crew members had been badly injured and that the engine room was flooding, the skipper ordered the crew to abandon ship.’

The skipper raised the alarm by texting a sister vessel and activating a radio beacon that gave the boat’s position. Despite extensive damage, the 13- year- old boat stayed afloat and was towed by a tug to its home port of Grimsby.

The bulkheads on either side of the wheelhouse maintained their integrity, containing the water that came in.

The owner Galwad-Y-Mor Shellfish Ltd declined to comment. The MAIB, which notified the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Receiver of the Wreck and the Ministry of Defence, said an investigation was continuing.

It is not clear whether the munition was British or German.

At least 1.3million tons of mainly Second World War munitions are thought to lie at the bottom of the north Sea.