The bodies of the two fishermen missing since the trawler Maranello sank in the English Channel have been recovered, French prosecutors have confirmed. Captain Christophe Houart, 60, and senior crewman Jean-Pierre Le Caër, 56, were brought to the surface on Saturday, 5 September, a week after the vessel went down.
The Saint-Brieuc registered trawler sank on the evening of 29 August after issuing a Mayday call approximately 26 nautical miles southwest of Plymouth, close to the Eddystone Lighthouse. The crew had reported a problem with their fishing gear shortly before the vessel lost buoyancy and went down.
Five men were aboard at the time. The nearby Saint-Brieuc trawler Stradale reached the scene and took off three of the crew before Maranello sank, leaving the captain and mate unaccounted for.
Rough seas kept dive teams away from the wreck, which was located during the initial search but sat roughly 72 metres down. Alex Dehays, deputy prosecutor in Saint-Brieuc, said improved weather allowed search teams to return to the site, and French Navy divers recovered both bodies from the wreck on Saturday.
A multi-agency search and rescue operation had been coordinated by MRCC Falmouth in the days after the sinking, involving HM Coastguard, RNLI lifeboats, French maritime authorities and the French Navy. The Skipper reported at the time that the search remained ongoing through the weekend, with an aircraft carrying advanced search radar deployed alongside RNLI lifeboats from Falmouth and Plymouth.
The search for survivors was suspended after two days once conditions deteriorated, though rescuers had by then pinpointed the wreck. Poor weather then delayed the recovery operation until the weekend.
The loss has been keenly felt in Brittany’s fishing community. In a family tribute, relatives of Jean-Pierre Le Caër said his death leaves a great void and immense sorrow, adding that it is hard to believe a man who spent so much of his life on the sea has been taken by it.
French authorities have opened an investigation into the sinking, which will now focus on establishing what caused Maranello to go down so quickly after the gear problem was reported. The case remains under the authority of the Saint-Brieuc prosecutor’s office and is being investigated by the maritime gendarmerie in Brest.
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Search continues for two missing crew after French fishing vessel’s mayday off Plymouth
