Fisherman feared dead after crash
A fisherman is missing, believed dead, after his vessel was in collision with a boat off the French coast, coastguards said.
A search for the 21-year-old man, from Teignmouth, Devon, was called off in the early hours of Monday after his boat, the Etoile Des Ondes, sank on Sunday in the Channel at around 6.15pm.
Mark Clark, spokesman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said four people had been on board the 50ft British vessel, which sails out of Weymouth, Dorset, when it was struck.
He said the three remaining crew members were rescued from a life raft by helicopter to a passing passenger ferry. They were then flown by helicopter to hospital in Cherbourg, France, he said.
Mr Clark, speaking about the missing man, said: "He was wearing yellow oil skins but he was not wearing a life jacket.
"The search went on pretty well most of the night until about four in the morning. Devon and Cornwall police have been informed."
The three crew members are understood to have suffered cuts and bruises, he added.
A statement from Devon and Cornwall police said: "At 9.40pm on Sunday December 20 Devon and Cornwall police received information that a British registered 50ft crabbing vessel had sunk 20 miles off the coast of Cherbourg.
"Three of the crew were rescued and taken to France.
"The fourth member of the crew is still missing. He is aged 21 years and lives in Teignmouth. Relatives of the missing man have been informed. The circumstances of the sinking are still under investigation."