Inquiry to hear that false start by coastguard may have cost three lives

A FATAL accident inquiry starts tomorrow into a coastguard red-tape delay that may have cost three fishermen their lives.

Clyde Coastguard at Greenock was alerted that a fishing boat had capsized near the Ardnamurchan peninsula in the west Highlands.

But after starting to coordinate a rescue they decided the incident was marginally out of their area, so passed it over to the coastguard base at Stornoway.

A Marine Accident Investigation Branch examination of the drownings decided the false start caused a 23-minute delay in a coastguard rescue helicopter arriving at the scene.

The inquiry will take place at Fort William Sheriff Court and is expected to last two weeks.

The Ayrshire-registered 45ft clam dredger Aquila rolled over as it trawled for scallops in July 2009. The four-man crew struggled for their lives in the sea without lifejackets.

Only one, 32-year-old Timmy Rowley, managed to keep his head above water long enough to be rescued by a passing yachtsman, Chris Pendlebury, a retired teacher from Skye.

The Marine and Coastguard Agency's lawyer in Scotland, Tom Stocker, admitted at a preliminary hearing he was aware of criticism of the coastguard's role in the attempted rescue and asked for more time to prepare his client's case but was refused by Sheriff Ian Abercrombie.

The sheriff said: "It is important we waste no time in holding the inquiry to try to prevent the same thing happening again."

The Aquila was dragging its underwater clam dredges across the Bo Faskadale rocky reef when its gear snagged, causing the vessel to keel over. People on the shore witnessing the tragedy raised the alarm.

The men who drowned were skipper Tony Hayton, 45, and crewmen Peter Hilton and Thomas Sanderson, both 52.