8 presumed dead in Scotland ship accident
January 5, 2015
An extensive search operation for the eight crew members of the Cyprus-registered cement carrier Cemfjord was called off and will not be restarted, the Scottish Maritime and Coastguard Agency said on Monday.
"The search won't be resumed," an agency spokeswoman told AFP, adding that there was little chance the individuals had survived.
Seven Poles and one Filipino were on board ill-fated vessel, whose upturned hull was spotted by a passing ferry on Saturday in the Pentland Firth about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the Scottish town of Wick.
For two days rescuers searched the area with aircraft and several boats but failed to find any survivors.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the cause of the incident, and on Monday were expected to scan the seabed using sonar to ascertain how the Cemfjord came to rest.
Tony Redding of the German shipping company Brise in Hamburg, which managed the ship, said investigators would "look for abnormalities. And at the moment we don't have any, apart from the fact that there was severe weather at the time."
The 83-meter (272-foot) vessel was reportedly last inspected in December. At the time of the accident it was carrying a cargo of 2,000 tonnes of cement from Aalborg in Denmark to Runcorn near Liverpool on England's west coast.
nm/rg (AFP, AP)