Two people were feared dead and 34 sailors were airlifted to safety today as storms whipped up high seas and wrought havoc in and around Britain.
In the most spectacular rescue operation, 18 crew members from the French trawler Le Parrain were plucked from the sea by a Royal Air Force helicopter early today, but the vessel's captain had been swept off deck and is feared dead.
Rescuers were also looking for a man feared drowned after he was swept off a pier in Brighton, in the south of England.
Britain has been battered by fierce storms all week, with torrential rains and gusts of wind reaching 200 kilometres (125 miles) per hour.
Elsewhere a Royal Navy helicopter succeeded in rescuing the 16-member crew of a Russian cargo ship that ran into trouble off the coast of Cornwall in southwest England.
The 6,000-tonne Kodima was loaded with wood and listing at 45 degrees and two tug boats had been sent out to try and prevent it sinking, they said.
Meanwhile, 60 passengers on the cross-channel ferry the Quiberon spent the night just outside the French port of Saint-Malo with gale-force winds making it impossible for the ship to dock.
The vessel was expected to complete its voyage to Plymouth in southern England later today, some 24 hours overdue.
The storms, some of the worst in years, have claimed at least nine lives, caused floods and millions of euros of damage. Scotland, northern England and Ireland have been the worst hit.
AFP