The wife of a trawler skipper has praised the fishermen who plucked him and his crew from the icy Atlantic
Alan Bolt was thrown into the water after scrambling off the Banff-registered Kairos as the vessel started to sink off the Scilly Isles.
The 46-year-old and his four Filipino crew issued distress calls as their boat began taking water in 15ft swells and 50mph-plus winds.
Two Irish coastguard search and rescue helicopters were scrambled and the St Mary’s lifeboat was launched.
Another trawler which was in the area, the Irish vessel Cu Na Mara, also headed for the scene.
By the time the helicopters arrived two of the men had already managed to get on board the Cu Na Mara.
Mr Bolt was pulled on to the Dingle-based trawler from the water and the other two were lifted out of the liferaft.
The men were all taken to the Irish port of Castletownbere by the Cu Na Mara to recover from their ordeal.
Last night, Mr Bolt’s wife Michelle said the past 48 hours had been the “worst two days of her life”.
Speaking from the couple’s home at Rosehearty, near Fraserburgh, the 40-year-old said: “It has been my worst nightmare, it has been absolutely horrendous – the worst two days I could ever imagine.
“He’s been at sea for as long as I have known him and I’ve never expected to get a phone call like I did.”
Her husband was last night making arrangements to come home and be reunited with his wife and their two children.
Mrs Bolt added: “It could have been a completely different story I was telling our kids in the morning.
“I’m very, very thankful that he’s still here and I’m very thankful to the guys that picked him up.
“Now I just want him home, I’m not thinking about anything else other than getting him back. He hasn’t ever been through anything like this before.”
The Department of Transport’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch has launched an investigation into the sinking of the trawler.
The Kairos operates through the Westward Fishing Company, but no one at the Fraserburgh office was available to comment yesterday.
The crew of the Kairos raised the alarm at about 11.45pm on Monday.