Divers working to salvage the wreck of the Solway Harvester have volunteered to retrieve the bodies of the crew, should delays in lifting the vessel continue.

The operation to lift the Kirkcudbright-registered scallop dredger has again been delayed by bad weather.

As families of the seven crew watched developments in Douglas, Isle of Man, salvage experts repeated their pledge to recover the bodies as soon as possible.

Divers on board the salvage vessel CSO Wellservicer have volunteered for what was viewed as a risky attempt to locate the bodies of the missing men and bring them to the surface.

Three bodies have been located on the gutting deck but four were still unaccounted for.

The wreck was being towed underneath the salvage vessel after being lifted a few metres from the sea bed where she had sunk 11 miles off the Isle of Man on 11 January.

Salvage experts were taking the vessel into calmer waters about four miles off the island's Laxey Bay before attempting to lift her to the surface.

But police said the CSO Wellservicer was able to take the Solway Harvester only one mile before she had to lower the vessel back down to the sea bed in poor weather.

Chief Inspector Dudley Butt, of the Isle of Man Constabulary, said: "The vessel has come to a dead stop because of the weather.

"She travelled about a mile but the waves were too big and were affecting the stability so she had to be put back on the bottom again. We are in a state of limbo just now."

Once the vessel has been raised, officials said the bodies would be transferred to the supply vessel Scotia Shore and taken to Douglas for formal identification.

Relatives, who travelled to the island on Thursday, have expressed the hope that the bodies of all seven men would be recovered and handed over for burial in their Galloway community next week.

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.