An inquest is to open into the seven crewmen whose bodies were retrieved from the wreck of the Solway Harvester.

The court hearing, which will take place in Douglas, the Isle of Man, on Saturday afternoon, will follow post mortem examinations on the bodies and is expected to be brief.

A more detailed examination to establish how and why the tragedy happened will get under way in due course.

Divers recovered the bodies of the men - from the Whithorn area of Galloway, South West Scotland - on Friday afternoon.

Relatives, who had flown to the island, wept with relief when they were told the news that all seven had been found.

It was hoped the wreck could have been lifted, taken inshore and then searched.

But bad weather and the growing anxiety of the waiting families persuaded salvage teams to send divers down to retrieve the bodies.

Plans are in the pipeline to recover the boat so that a detailed examination can take place to find out how the tragedy occurred.

Better weather

But that part of the operation will not be carried out until the weather improves.

After the inquest is opened and adjourned the families will be able to take their loved ones back to Scotland for funerals which are likely to be held next week.

The Harvester went down just 11 miles off the coast of the Isle of Man on 11 January amid rough seas and high winds.

The Manx Government quickly decided to embark on a £1m salvage operation involving specialist vessel the CSO Wellservicer.

After several dives down to the sunken vessel it was established that three bodies were on board.

When the delicate operation to recover the dead was carried out on Friday it was found that all seven were still on the scallop dredger - three on the gutting deck and four in the sleeping quarters.