Rescuers find crewman after 12 hours in Atlantic

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.

The man was spotted by a Nimrod jet from RAF Kinloss around 12.15pm, says an RAF spokesman.

A life raft was dropped to the man and he is being moved by coastguard helicopter to land.

The alarm was raised last night when the German-registered trawler Hansa sent a distress signal 240 miles west of Tiree in the Western Isles. Nine crewmen were rescued overnight. Six are still missing.

RAF spokesman Michael Mulford described the latest rescue as "miraculous". He said: "The man was spotted in the water where he had been for more than 12 hours.

"A low flying Nimrod pitched a life raft down to him in a quite dramatic rescue. The crew were absolutely thrilled to have spotted him after such a long time.

"This man has been in the water since before midnight. He really must have the survival instinct - this is quite exceptional in the history of search and rescue operations."

Mr Mulford said the rescue had raised the spirits of the international search team being co-ordinated by Clyde Coastguard.

He added: "This is quite miraculous. What fires up all search and rescue teams is that people can and do survive against the odds."

A helicopter from Shannon has joined the rescue effort and surface vessels, three from Norway and one British, are also at the scene continuing to look for four other crew members still listed as missing.

However, two bodies were also discovered at lunchtime.

Sixteen people - one German and 15 Spanish - were on board the vessel.