Two men have been airlifted from their stricken yacht after an international rescue bid in the North Atlantic.

Fire teams and RAF helicopters were sent today to battle a blaze on board a North Sea ferry with 611 passengers aboard.

Two injured crew members on a dismasted and holed British yacht were airlifted to safety today in a dramatic dawn rescue, coastguards said.

An intensive search was continuing tonight for a crew member believed to have gone overboard from the QE2 in the Atlantic.

Rescued crewmen of a fishing trawler which sank off the coast of Donegal were today preparing to fly home as an inquiry was launched into the tragedy which killed six of their colleagues.

Five bodies have now been found by rescuers searching for the crew of a sunken fishing trawler in the Atlantic.

Rescuers searching for the crew of a sunken fishing trawler in the Atlantic have found a further two bodies.

Rescuers searching for seven crewmen missing in the north Atlantic have picked up a survivor who spent more than 12 hours in the icy water.