Fisherman search called off

The Kinghorn lifeboat on exercise with the RAF

The search for a fisherman feared dead after his boat sank in the Firth of Forth has been called off.

Contact with the Amber was lost on Monday evening when the vessel's nets are believed to have snagged an object two miles from the shore at Buckhaven, Fife.

At 1400 GMT on Tuesday, a spokesman for Forth Coastguard said: "The search and rescue aspect has stopped because given the lapse of time, there is no reasonable expectation of finding somebody alive."

A shoreline search will take place on Wednesday.

Wreckage, throught to be that of the small Pittenweem-registered vessel, has been located in the water by rescuers using sonar gear.

Safety fears

The coastguard spokesman added that a team of Royal Navy divers from Faslane would carry out an internal search of the wreck in an effort to confirm that it is the Amber.

A police diving team has attempted to explore the wreck, but the operation was called off after safety concerns were raised.

On Monday evening, an empty liferaft was found about two-and-a-half miles south of Buckhaven.

A helicopter from RAF Boulmer, in Northumberland, had been scrambled to help the coastguard teams.

The identity of the missing man has not been released.