One dead after trawler which sailed from Peterhead capsizes off Norway

The Njord had sailed from Peterhead

A man has died and seven crew members have been rescued after a fishing trawler capsized off Norway.

The Njord, which left Peterhead on Saturday afternoon, got into difficulty in the North Sea, about 100 nautical miles west of Stavanger.

Rescuers found the crew on the keel of the capsized boat on Sunday afternoon.

The Norwegian Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre (JRCC) said three who had ingested diesel were airlifted to hospital in Bergen and one later died.

Five others were picked up by an offshore vessel, the Olympic Challenger.

The JRCC said there was no radio contact with the stricken 24m (79ft) vessel, which was previously called Courageous when it worked out of Lerwick in Shetland.

A spokesman said they were automatically alerted by the trawler's emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB), which activated when it started taking on water.

'Sitting on the keel'

Ståle Jamtli from the JRCC told BBC Scotland the helicopter rescue was scrambled from a nearby offshore platform.

"They were there I guess after 20-something minutes," he said. "When they arrived at the wreck, they saw some people sitting on the keel of the vessel - the vessel had capsized and two people I think were in the water.

"Five of them were picked up by a nearby vessel that came to aid. The three people that were hoisted into the helicopter, they were brought to hospital in Bergen. They all had swallowed some diesel oil. The five other guys were then picked up by another helicopter and sent ashore, but they were in fairly good shape."

He added: "When you consider the circumstances, I guess they were lucky because they got a really fast recovery or help because there was an offshore helicopter that close by.

"It probably went very fast, the capsizing, because they didn't have any rescue gear or life rescue suits on them either, so they were just in normal working clothes. They would be cold. So they were lucky that they were rescued that fast."

A major air and sea rescue operation was launched

The Olympic Challenger's captain Sven Tore Ask received the distress message. They were five nautical miles away when they set off towards the fishing boat.

They sent out a small boat and rescued five of the crew who were in the water, before giving them warm clothes, food and drink, before the rescue helicopter arrived and transported them ashore.

Shipowner Stig Remøy said: "The crew has done a great job, where the quick action taken has clearly saved lives."

The UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said it received a distress alert from the EPIRB at 13:49 on Sunday in the Norwegian search and rescue region.

The Norwegian Coastguard was contacted and confirmed it had also received the alert and a helicopter had been sent.

It is believed the boat, built in 1992, sailed from Peterhead on Saturday afternoon and is registered in North Shields.

No details about the dead man or the crew members have been released.

An FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Norway. We are also supporting a British man who is hospitalised in Bergen. We remain in contact with the Norwegian authorities."