Ship Sinks As Crew Search Continues

A cargo ship has sunk below the water as coastguards continue the search for the eight members of its crew. A major search effort was mounted after the upturned hull of the Cypriot-registered Cemfjord was spotted in the waters of the Pentland Firth, north of Scotland. This afternoon a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said: The vessel is no longer visible.'' She added:The coastguard rescue teams are still searching and the helicopters are still up. So the search is still going on.'' But she said sadly'' there had not been any sign of the missing crew, made up of seven Poles and one Filipino. The crew of a passenger ferry raised the alarm yesterday when they spotted the upturned hull of the vessel. German shipping company Brise of Hamburg confirmed then that there were eight people on the ship, adding that there had been no distress call. The 83-metre bulk cement carrier had been bound for Runcorn, Cheshire, on the west coast of the UK. When the search resumed this morning two helicopters, four lifeboats and several coastguard rescue teams were all out looking for the missing crew. An MCA statement said:The search has begun again this morning for eight crew missing from the cement carrier Cemfjord, which capsized and sank in the Pentland Firth." The search has been ongoing since 2.30pm yesterday afternoon when the vessel was found capsized by a passing ferry. Sadly no sign has yet been found of the missing crew.'' The crew on the NorthLink ferry Hrossey alerted the coastguard after the upturned hull of the ship was spotted around 10 miles east of the Pentland Skerries, about 15 miles from Wick.