Two bodies found in ship's hold

Police and fire crews searched the hold of The Pascal after the bodies were found

The bodies of two men have been found in the hold of a ship docked at Ayr harbour, police have said.

Officers were alerted to the discovery on the 90m-long cargo ship, The Pascal, at about 1440 BST.

It is believed the ship's crew are Russian and the dead men may have been on board without their knowledge.

Police would only confirm inquiries had begun to establish how the men came to be in the hold and efforts were being made to identify them.

The men found in the hold are not believed to be the same nationality as the crew and it is thought they could have boarded The Pascal when it docked in Tunisia.

Strathclyde Police received a call from the shipping company to report the discovery.

The men's bodies were then located and rescue teams began a thorough search of the rest of the ship.

Three fire engines, four ambulances and a police underwater rescue team were involved in the harbour-side operation on Monday evening.

Fire crews were lowered in to the hold of the 3,000-tonne ship via a turntable ladder.

Strathclyde Police said the bodies were recovered from the ship just before midnight.

The name of the shipping company has not been released.

The Pascal is registered in Antigua.

A post-mortem examination will be held later to determine the exact cause of the men's deaths.

Conservative MSP for Ayr John Scott described the discovery as a "great tragedy".

He told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme that translators had been brought in to talk to the Russian crew.

Mr Scott added: "Sadly people feel the need to migrate from their own countries and sometimes when they stow away, they don't make it.

"As I understand it, the cargo holds were sealed when this boat left Africa and these bodies were discovered when it arrived in Ayr - obviously that's a long sea journey and it would certainly be cold a lot of the time.

"The community have been left saddened and shocked by what has happened."