Treasure hunter claims to have found shipwreck containing $3bn fortune

On a day when Irish families faced yet more financial pain, they could be forgiven for trying to trace any distant ancestral ties to one US treasure hunter who claims to have located a haul worth over $3bn (€2.3bn).

Carrying what could be one of the richest sunken treasure troves ever found, a British merchant ship carrying platinum bars was torpedoed by a German U-boat off Cape Cod during the Second World War.

A lawyer for the British government doubted the vessel was carrying platinum but added that if it was laden with precious metals, who owns the hoard could be a matter of international dispute.