‘Do the right thing, bring them home’
Wives’ plea to recover lost f ishermen from loch
THE wives of two fishermen feared drowned inside their sunken trawler have told of their agony at not being able to lay them to rest.
Skipper Duncan MacDougall, 46, and crewman Przemek Krawczyk, 38, have been missing presumed dead since the Nancy Glen capsized in Loch Fyne on January 18, barely two miles from their home port of Tarbert, Argyll.
They had been preparing to return home after a successful four days of prawn fishing when the 40ft boat got into difficulties.
John Miller, 34, was pulled from the water but search crews were unable to reach the wreckage to recover his crewmates, believed to be trapped inside the hull.
The vessel now lies more than 300ft down on the bed of the sea loch and yesterday their heartbroken wives issued a desperate plea to the authorities to raise the boat and ‘bring our boys home’.
The Clyde Fishermen’s Trust has raised more than £200,000 so far to fund the salvage operation.
But Dawn MacDougall and Gosia Krawczyk believe the Scottish and UK governments should be doing more to help.
The Marine Accidents Investigations Branch (MAIB) has already ruled out recovering the boat.
Mrs MacDougall and Mrs Krawczyk paid tribute to their husbands. Mrs MacDougall, 36, said her husband loved her and their sons, aged eight and five, ‘more than anything’. She told the Daily Record: ‘He looked after us and worked so hard. Family meant everything to him. He was the kindest, most loyal man I have ever met.’
She added: ‘I would like the governments in Holyrood and Westminster to put themselves in our position and think if it was their husband, father, son or brother who was trapped in a boat on the seabed within sight of their home town, what would they want?
‘Please do the right thing, raise the boat. We want them home.’
Mrs Krawczyk, who moved from Poland to Tarbert with her husband 13 years ago to raise their children – Kacper, 20, and five-year-old Mia – said: ‘Przemek was my best friend and my soulmate. We did everything together and I don’t know how to live without him.
‘The pain is indescribable. Our kids did not have the opportunity to say goodbye. I could not kiss him for the last time.
‘I cannot go for a walk with my daughter because I know where the boat is and where my husband is lying at the bottom of the sea. The only thing I can do is take his ashes and say goodbye. Przemek deserves to return home.’
An investigation into the cause of the tragedy is still under way.