Third body confirmed as that of missing fisherman Alan Minard
Family photosA body found on the Wirral more than two weeks ago has been officially identified as that of the third fisherman missing off Conwy's coast.
Alan Minard, 20, vanished with Ross Ballantine and Carl McGrath in January. Their boat has not yet been found.
Mr Minard's body was found on 14 March. North Wales Police confirmed he had now been identified and said his family had been informed.
The bodies of Mr Ballantine, 39, and Mr McGrath, 34, were also found in March.
Fresh searches have begun to find their fishing boat, Nicola Faith.
The Welsh government's fisheries patrol vessel Rhodri Morgan, now equipped with a sonar device, is helping the Marine Accident Investigation Branch's search.
Sonar uses sound to detect objects under water.
The search boat left Conwy on Tuesday to work alongside a Natural Resources Wales boat.
A private search has been temporarily stood down after previous attempts were hampered by weather.
That is funded by an appeal run by the families of the three crew.
Investigators and the families of the dead men say they are keen for the fishing vessel to be found to get answers about what happened.
A Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) spokeswoman said they were "delighted" the Welsh government boat was joining the search.
"The Rhodri Morgan will be mobilised with a towable multi-pulse side scan sonar," she said.
"We are extremely grateful to the crew and technicians onboard for their collaboration.
"In addition, mounted on a second vessel, Natural Resource Wales are also operating a high-definition side scan sonar which has been used by the MAIB for a number of days.
"MAIB remains focused on getting answers for the families and learning what went wrong so that steps can be taken to prevent this happening again."
