Prayers for capsize victims

A 14-year-old schoolboy on work experience and his father were among the eight victims after the Bourbon Dolphin capsized around 75 miles north west of Shetland on Thursday.

The close-knit island community of Heroy in Norway, where the father and son came from, held a prayer service in a church in the town. Local government representatives also attended the ceremony.

There were 15 Norwegian crew on board the handling supply tug when it capsized. Of those, 10 were taken off the vessel or out of the water, but three were later confirmed dead. Another five are presumed dead.

Survivors of the incident and relatives of the dead and missing gathered on one of the island's beaches for the service. The relatives and survivors were taken down to the Sands of Sound beach at Lerwick by bus for a short service, which was conducted in Norwegian. Bourbon Offshore representatives were also present.

At the end of the service, flowers were laid in the water in a tribute to those who lost their lives.

The ceremony took place as the specialist firm appointed to carry out the salvage operation prepared to tow the Bourbon Dolphin to shallow water off the coast of Shetland. Dutch firm Smit Salvage is carrying out the work.

A statement from Bourbon said: "At the present time, the Salvage Team is composed of two tugs with crew and material, four specialised divers and one Salvage Master in charge of the operations.

"All the Bourbon teams are waiting to know the circumstances of the accident and how it could have happened. This information will only become available after several weeks of official investigations. Only then might we understand how such an accident could have occurred."

Oddne Arve Remy, 44, and his son David, 14, from Heroy, were among the dead or missing. The others were Bjarte Grimstad, 37, from Hareid, Kjetil Rune Vge, 31, from Alesund, Frank Nygrd, 42, from Hareid, Ronny Emblem, 25, from Alesund, Sren Kroer, 27, from rum Djurs, Denmark, and Tor Karl Sand, 54, also of Alesund.