Body recovered off Plymouth coast

Police are continuing to investigate after retrieving a body from the water, following reports that a small fishing vessel had sunk of the coast of Plymouth last week.

Police were informed by the Coastguard on Friday morning (10 July) that debris had been discovered off the coast of Plymouth, following reports that a scalloper fishing boat named ‘J.M.T’ had been reported missing at around 8.30pm on Thursday 9 July, possibly with two people on board.

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency undertook searches throughout Friday supported by lifeboats and the Royal Navy helicopter, but were forced to call off their search at nightfall. The body of a man was discovered at the scene and has been recovered.

The post mortem will be taking place on Tuesday, with formal identification to take place later in the week.

The police are working under the impression that the sunk boat is the J.M.T scalloper which was reported missing, and that there is possibly one body still within the wreckage. Preparations are being put into place and the Force Dive Team are due to undertake recovery dives, weather dependent, on Thursday.