Five recall ordeal in high seas

Five people who survived more than a week in storm-tossed seas after their vessel sank spoke today of their “exhausting and frightening” ordeal.

The four men and a woman thanked the emergency services who rescued them from their life-raft as they drifted at the mercy of the Atlantic.

The crew, whose boat sank off the west coast of Ireland in heavy seas, spoke to the media from the hospital where they have been treated for hypothermia.

Dressed in hospital clothing, they spoke of their relief at being back on dry land. Skipper David Faulkner said: “It’s been a very exhausting and frightening episode.”