Divers have begun the operation to recover the bodies of the seven fishermen who drowned on the trawler Solway Harvester.

The operation to raise the vessel and retrieve the bodies has been continually hampered by bad weather and the divers volunteered to commence a risky underwater recovery off the coast of the Isle of Man.

Experts said they accepted that the diving operation would not be without hazards but stressed they were anxious to speed up the process as families of the dead men waited for news on the Isle of Man.

Divers from the salvage vessel CSO Wellservicer would use a dive bell and heavy suits for the operation.

They have been tasked to search the two areas of the vessel not already examined - the engine room and the crew's quarters.

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."

Once the bodies have been recovered, they will be put on 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.