Two bodies found after three fishermen saved by passing cruise ship in North Sea

Two bodies have been found after a boat sank in the North Sea, 25 miles off the Norfolk coast.

Three men from the fishing vessel were picked up in a life raft by the Pacific Princess cruise ship on Saturday night which turned around after crew on board spotted a distress flare.

The men had been huddled on a life raft for approximately four hours after their boat sank around 25 miles north-east of Great Yarmouth.

After spotting the signal, the captain announced there was a life raft on theship's starboard side at around 6.30pm and crew then lowered a ladder into the sea.

Passengers watch the drama unfold. Credit: Alexandra Rosen/Twitter

Within an hour, the men were safely on board - prompting applause from passengers.

One of the passengers, Canadian Teena Dowd, watched the drama unfold:

"We were on the very top deck, and people were just sort of holding their breath, everybody was anxious," she said.

"Because we all at the time thought there was only three of them, and everybody clapped when they came on the ship."

American national Alexandra Rosen, who was on the ship with her family, told ITV News Anglia that joy quickly turned to despair when the captain announced over the intercom that two other men were still missing.

"When we got the message on the intercom from the captain about the other two men that they were unable to locate, it was during dinner time, and you could see everybody else in the dining room, their faces dropped very noticeably," she said.

"People were no longer hungry because we were sitting enjoying the nice feast knowing that there were two men who may or may not see their families. I'm hoping for a miracle."

The Pacific Princess cruise liner helped rescue the men. Credit: PA

A large search was launched to try and find the two men lost at season, and a HM Coastguard helicopter eventually located the men on Sunday afternoon.

Their bodies were airlifted to shore where they were confirmed to be deceased.

They have yet to be identified, but the fishermen are thought to have been Belgian.