Nicola Faith: Sala search expert hunts for missing fishing boat

A sonar search vessel is being used in the bid to find a missing fishing boat off the north Wales coast.

Sea search specialist David Mearns says if the Nicola Faith - which disappeared with three men on board in January - is on the seabed it will be found.

Last week, three bodies were recovered off the English coast, but no identities have been confirmed.

Mr Mearns found the wreckage of the plane carrying footballer Emiliano Sala which disappeared off Guernsey in 2019.

The Nicola Faith was last seen fishing for whelks near Colwyn Bay on 27 January, but its crew - Ross Ballantine, 39, Alan Minard, 20, and skipper Carl McGrath, 34 - failed to return to Conwy a day later.

"If the Nicola Faith has sunk out here we will find it," tweeted Mr Mearns, a renowned marine scientist and oceanographer, as the search resumed earlier.

Families of the fishermen launched an appeal to finance a privately funded search which began on Saturday with the survey boat Pulsar, which is operated by SEP Hydrographic.

Mr Mearns, who is nicknamed the "shipwreck hunter", has been giving his time for free to help the families of the men.

An official inquiry into their boat's disappearance is being run by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB).

Mr Minard's mother Nathania, from Penmaenmawr, previously told BBC Wales "we still need to find answers about what happened on that night so we can get some closure".

Earlier this month, the Nicola Faith's life raft was found off the coast of Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland by the Coastguard.

The three bodies were found off the coast at Blackpool last Monday, and North Wales Police are keeping the fishermen's families informed about developments.