Two bodies were recovered and three crew are still missing after the French Bugaled Breizh sank in an area where multinational naval exercises are held.

Prosecutor Roland Eisch said photos of the sunken trawler suggested it had suffered a "very violent" collision.

He said a massive vessel - probably a container ship - had rammed its bow.

Warships eliminated

The Bugaled Breizh, from the port of Loctudy in Brittany, sank off Lizard Point on 15 January.

Mr Eisch says the positions of all the warships in the area had been determined and they could not have been responsible.

Reactions in the western French port town of Loctudy have been furious.

There could have been survivors if the larger ship had stopped Andre le Berre

"It's murderous behaviour. These are not people of the sea," Michel Cap, director of the Loctudy sea rescue service said.

"I can believe that on board a cargo ship they did not hear the shock of the collision, but it is impossible to believe the crew did not hear the distress signal put out by the British on channel 16," he added.

Andre le Berre, president of the Brittany Fishing Committee, said there could have been survivors if the larger ship had stopped.

Speaking on French television station La Chaine Info TV, Mr Eisch said he was considering a charge of involuntary manslaughter, "that is to say, breaking the rules of navigation which were in force in that zone".

He would open a judicial inquiry to begin the process of identifying the boat and its captain, he added.

It had previously been thought bad weather was to blame.