Search called off for missing ferry traveller

A FRANTIC air-sea search for a man who went overboard from a ferry in the early hours of yesterday was unsuccesful.

At around mid-afternoon, after nine hours searching the freezing waters, the search for the 35-year-old man was called off.

The missing man is from Runcorn, according to Merseyside Police and was travelling home with his girlfriend after a visit to Belfast when he went into the Irish Sea.

The police spokesman said passengers on the ferry had been interviewed and they were not treating the death as suspicious.

The major search was launched after the man was seen going overboard from the ferry, en route from Belfast to Liverpool, shortly after 2.00am.

The alarm was raised by the crew of the Lagan Viking who threw a marker buoy into the water, turned their vessel and began the search.

Most passengers on board were asleep in their cabins at the time and were unaware of the drama.

Liverpool coastguards coordinated the search in an area nine miles south of the Isle of Man.

The lifeboat from Port St Mary as well as an RAF helicopter from Anglesey were scrambled to the search area and a number of vessels including the Lagan Viking's sister ship, the Mersey Viking and the survey ship Corystes, joined in the hunt.

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