Relatives of the seven Solway Harvester crewmen have been told of further delays in recovering the bodies of their loved ones as they arrived on the Isle of Man.

It was hoped the vessel would have been recovered by now, but bad weather and problems with equipment have hampered the operation.

Families of the Galloway fishermen flew into the island's airport on Thursday afternoon and said they would remain there until the salvage has been completed.

It has been revealed that although only three bodies were confirmed to be on board the wreck, funeral preparations have been made for all seven.

The Reverend Alexander Currie, who represented the families, said it had been a difficult week for everyone as efforts continued to raise the scallop dredger which sank 11 miles off the Isle of Man on 11 January.

He said: "I think the whole world has to appreciate that the wait has now been three weeks, that's not normal in the grieving process for us.

"It's a long time without funerals taking place and our intention here is to establish and find our loved ones and bring them home so the grieving process may continue and move on.

"At this stage in time we are still hopeful that we will find seven bodies and are moving on with that in the back of our minds, we are trying not to consider other options."

Mr Currie added: "It's been a very long week which has had a number of false starts, our intention was to come here and bring our loved ones home, the fact that's been delayed several times due to the elements has made it harder to say the least.

"What we have got to remember is that we are planning for seven funerals which is not easy in a small community. Plans have been made that would accommodate the wishes of all those involved.

"We are coming to establish the identities of the bodies that will hopefully be recovered and that is a task that no mother, no father, no wife could ever wish to carry out and that's why we are here."

Mr Currie also paid tribute to the Isle of Man authorities who have made up to £1m available for the operation to retrieve the wreck of the fishing boat from the sea bed.

"Words cannot express the gratitude which the families would wish to indicate to the government and authorities on the island.

"We are deeply indebted for their efforts and to all the support agencies who have rallied to us in many ways."

Dealing with grief

He said that the cause of the tragedy was a secondary issue which the families would deal with once they have dealt with their grief.

Sergeant Mike Kneeshaw, of Dumfries and Galloway Police, who travelled to the Isle of Man with the families, read out a prepared statement on their behalf in which they appealed for privacy and thanked those who had sent messages of support and condolence.

Work to recover the wreck of the Solway Harvester continued out at sea and an attempt to lift her from the sea bed was due to be made at around midnight on Thursday.

It has not yet been decided whether to fully lift the vessel out at sea as originally planned or tow it into sheltered waters off the east coast, using the salvage vessel the CSO Wellservicer, before raising it to the surface.

On Thursday morning a test lift of the vessel went wrong because of an imbalance in the buoyancy of the boat, which had to be placed back on the sea bed.

The men who died - all from the villages of the Isle of Whithorn, Whithorn and Garlieston - were skipper Andrew Craig Mills, 29, his brother Robin, 33, their cousin David, 17, Martin Milligan, 26, John Murphy, 22, David Lyons, 18, and Wesley Jolly, 17.