A French fishing boat sank after a collision overnight with a Norwegian freighter off the north-west coast of France, a local coastal official said today.
A British helicopter rescued the five crew of the French craft from their lifeboats early this morning.
Their 25-metre fishing boat sank minutes after the accident some 50 nautical miles off Brittany.
"They have slight hypothermia" but it was not serious, coastal official Mr Jean-Marie Figue said. He added the crew had been transferred to a hospital in the southwestern English town of Truro.