Hunt for four missing Verity crew members called off by German coast guard

The search for four missing crew members in the Verity British cargo crash has been called off, the coast guard says.

German authorities said on Wednesday morning that the search had been called off a day after it crashed in the North Sea. One person had already been confirmed dead while a further two were rescued alive, with divers searching the water for the four missing who it was initially hoped may be alive and trapped in the vessel on the sea bed.

Seven people were on board the cargo ship at the time, which was heading from Immingham on the Humber coast towards Bremen, Germany. The boat crashed shortly before 5am on Tuesday with the Bahamas-flagged cargo vessel the Polesie, on board which were 22 people.

Nearby boats including a P&O cruise helped with the search efforts on Tuesday. Coast guard officials say the surrounding sea water had been searched while a team was dispatched to the sea bed to check for signs of life in the sunken boat, but sadly couldn't find anything.

A search light on the P&O ship the Iona scanning the water near to where the British cargo ship Verity sank (PA)

Officials said that the water temperature at the time of the collision was about 12C, which experience shows that people can survive for about 20 hours. Germany's Central Command for Maritime Emergencies said the entire surrounding sea area was searched again through the night without results, before the mission was eventually called off.

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It said that search efforts on the surface won't be resumed on Wednesday but the emergency command will consider "what measures can be taken around the site of the accident in the course of the day." Names of the person confirmed to have died as well as the four still missing have not been released.

The larger cargo ship involved in the collision - the Polesie - was able to reach the German port of Cuxhaven under its own steam. There has been no word on the cause of the collision.