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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
Christie Bannon

Search for missing fishermen off Welsh coast suspended

The huge search for a missing fishing boat with three men on board has been stood down.

Their vessel, the Nicola Faith, was due back to shore at midnight on Wednesday after leaving from Conwy earlier that day. They last made contact at 9.30pm on Wednesday.

A huge air and sea search to find the men, involving seven RNLI lifeboat teams, HM Coastguard, North Wales Police, helicopter and aeroplane has been taking place over the last two days.

The three men on board the boat have been named online as Carl McGrath, 34, from Conwy, Steve (Alan) Minard, from Penmaenmawr, and Ross Ballentine, from Llandudno, the Mirror reports.

Carl McGrath is one of the three men on board the vessel (GoFundMe)
Steve (Alan) Minard has been named as a crew member (GoFundMe)
Ross Ballentine has been pictured on a fundraising page for the search (GoFundMe)

HM Coastguard has confirmed that the search has now been "stood down".

A statement read: "Searches for three fishermen missing off the Conwy coast have been stood down (January 29), pending further information.

"Her Majesty’s Coastguard has been co-ordinating the search to find them since they were reported missing just after 10am yesterday (January 28).

"Bangor, Llandudno, Flint and Rhyl Coastguard Rescue Teams and Rhyl, Hoylake and Llandudno RNLI lifeboats, as well as the coastguard helicopter from Caernarfon and fixed-wing coastguard aircraft, have all been involved in an extensive search, along with North Wales Police.

"Boats in the nearby area have also been keeping a look out for the missing vessel."

The search has been taking place since Thursday morning after the fishing boat failed to return to shore on Wednesday night (RNLI/Rhyl RNLI)

Duty controller for HM Coastguard, Rob Priestley added: "We have carried out highly-concentrated and thorough searches of wide areas off the north coast of Wales to locate this vessel – using all available resources – but, sadly, nothing has been found so far.

"Our thoughts are with the family and friends and the wider community at this difficult time.

"We would like to thank all of the teams and crews who have been involved with and participated in this large scale search effort since Thursday, as well as those vessels in the area and local community at large who have helped to provide as much information as possible to aid the search efforts."

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