Crew 'unaware' of dead stowaways

The men's bodies were recovered just before midnight

The crew of a cargo ship docked at Ayr harbour had "no knowledge" of two dead men who were discovered on board, police have said.

Crew on board The Pascal found the bodies in the middle hold of the 90m-long ship on Monday afternoon.

Sources have told the BBC that the men were found with one bottle of water.

The men are believed to be a different nationality from the mostly Russian crew. It is thought they stowed away before the ship left Tunisia on 15 May.

Det Insp Jim Honeyman of Strathclyde Police said: "Our investigation will focus on who the men are and how they boarded the ship.

"The nine crew members, mostly Russian, have been interviewed with the aid of interpreters but have no knowledge of the deceased.

Police spokesman on the likely cause of death

"It is believed that they boarded the ship whilst it was loading its cargo in Tunisia.

"We will be liaising with immigration and the Tunisian authorities in an effort to identify these individuals. At this time there is nothing to suggest criminality."

Police received a call about the discovery from C A Mair Shipping at about 1440 BST on Monday.

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.

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

'Great tragedy'

The bodies were recovered just before midnight.

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."