One dead, two missing after boat collision

A man died and two more are missing feared dead after a boat sank following a suspected collision.

A major search and rescue operation was launched after the vessel went down off Shoreham in West Sussex.

The vessel left Shoreham harbour early yesterday for a fishing trip and “was struck by a larger vessel” two hours later, police said.

The alarm was only raised when a fourth man was discovered by a fishing boat crew “clinging to a buoy”, two miles from the harbour. The four men on board were all Romanian living in the UK. The 45-year-old survivor is stable in hospital.

Matt Pavitt, Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s south area commander, said: “Anybody who spends that length of time in the sea without protective equipment is very, very lucky to be alive.”