Earlier this afternoon (11th February) at around 2.00pm, a fishing boat capsized near Dunoon. Clyde Coastguard have confirmed this, saying that the cause of the capsize is not yet known.

A lifeboat, a police helicopter and a Royal Navy helicopter were scrambled to help the sailors but they were picked up by another fishing boat.

The three men were then taken by helicopter to Dunoon General Hospital but were not thought to be seriously injured. A Strathclyde Police spokeswoman said: ‘They all appear to be fine, just a bit cold’.

UPDATE 12th February : The fishing boat involved was the 40ft Belfast-registered Jubilee Star which works out of Troon with a Scottish crew. She was prawn fishing in deep water south of the Gantocks rocks off Dunoon.

The capsize seemes to have been caused by the boat’s nets snagging. She sank in minutes and her three-man crew had to jump into the water to escape. An RN Search and Recue helicopter (SAR) from HMS Gannet, Helensburgh’s inshore RIB lifeboat, and Dunoon Coastguard team joined other ships and rescue services at the scene.

The nearest boat to the Jubilee Star when it capsized was the Guide Me, registered in Kirkcaldy in Fife and skippered by Matthew Currie from Tighnabruaich in Argyll. The Guifde Me was also prawn fishing in the waters around the Gantocks. The Guide Me picked up the three men, one who had got on to the Jubilee Star’s life raft which had inflated normally, the other hanging on to the side of it and the third further away in the water.

The three men were taken to Dunoon & District General Hospital suffering from mild hypothermia. All were released last night. Mathhew Currie from Guide Me knew the skipper of the Jubilee Star as Gary McKinnon and Robert Jack as one of two crewmen.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch is likely to investigate the incident.