BOURBON DOLPHIN sinks beneath the waves
Anchor handling tug goes down to the bottom after service held on Sunday

During the salvage operations of the BOURBON DOLPHIN conducted by Smit Salvage and in the face of deteriorating meteorological conditions, the ship sank and is lying at 3,600 feet, Bourbon Offshore reported.

The ship finally gave up and went down last night as salvage operations went on in an effort to tow the vessel to harbour in Shetland.

"It was released from a rig yesterday and slowly it began to go down," Shetland Coastguard watch manager Neil Cumming said.

"It was very unstable and at 9.15 pm (2015 GMT) ... it sank."

Earlier that day families of the eight missing, three of whom died after rescue missions, attended a service on a Shetland beach, scattering flowers on the water in tribute to their missing loved ones.

Amongst the five still unaccounted for are Captain Oddne Arve Remøy and his 14 year old son. Speaking before the vessel finally succumbed  Trond Myklebust, managing director of Bourbon Offshore Norway spoke of his hopes to keep the vessel afloat to try and find the missing crew inside.

"It is very important for relatives to have a grave." he said.

On the BBC, one of the survivors, Egil Hafsas, spoke through tears about the last moments before the BOURBON DOLPHIN capsized on Thursday. He was on deck when the vessel took a sudden list. He described how he grabbed a life vest and shouted to everyone to get off the vessel. He jumped into the sea along with two young trainees and within moments the ship had turned over.

The names of the crew, apart from the captain and his son, who are either dead or missing are: Ronny Emblem aged 25, Bjarte Grimstad, 37, Kjetil Rune Våge, 31, Tor Karl Sandø, 54, Søren Kroer, 27, and Frank Nygård, 42.

There has been no confirmation of the identities of the three recovered bodies.

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