THE firm that owns a fishing boat on which three foreign crewmen were killed in a devastating blaze yesterday pledged do everything it could to help pinpoint the cause of the fire.

05/08/2008 The Scotsman 

Alexander Jack, the skipper of the Vision II, returned early from a holiday to help the inquiry after being told of Friday's blaze at Fraserburgh harbour.

He is understood to have been questioned yesterday by the government's Marine Accident Investigation Branch.

A spokesman for the vessel's owner, Zander Jack (Fishing) Ltd, said: "We are all still feeling a great sense of shock and we are still trying to come to terms with the tragic consequences.

"We are continuing to co-operate fully with the investigation. In the meantime, our condolences remain with the families and friends of the men who have perished and our thoughts are with them."

The three who died have still to be officially identified. One crewman has been named locally as Ramhel Calepyan, a father of five who was due to return to the Philippines next month to be with his wife and family. He was one of two Filipino fishermen believed to have died in the fire.

The third crewmen who died has been named locally as Sigitas Palmieras, a Lithuanian who had been working in the North-east for three years.

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