Two crew members are feared to have died after British and Danish container ships collided in the Baltic Sea this morning.
The UK-flagged Scot Carrier and the Danish Karin Hoej struck one-another around 3.30am while navigating a 25-mile wide stretch of water between the southern tip of Sweden and the Danish island of Bornholm.
Automated emergency beacons were triggered with six lifeboats, three helicopters and nearby vessels rushing to the scene where they found the Karin had capsized.
Rescuers said 'screams' were heard coming from the water around 4.45am, believed to be from the two crew members of the Danish ship who are currently missing.
But by 9am no signs of life had been found, with Sweden's coast guard saying it would be impossible for anyone to survive in the 4C (39F) water that long.
Search efforts have now been called off, with a preliminary probe opened into criminal negligence. All crew from the UK vessel are safe. people from the Karin are missing and are assumed to have fallen in the water.The capsized Danish vessel is now being towed to Sandhammar, on Sweden's southern tip, where it will be anchored before search teams go inside to see if the bodies of the two crew are trapped there.
Sweden's Maritime Administration said it appears the British vessel has hit the Danish one as the pair sailed in the same direction through the channel in the early hours, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported.
Forecasters said weather in the channel was calm but foggy at the time of the crash.
Temperatures were cold - just 4C (39F) in the water and 5C (41F) in the air - putting survival time in the water at around an hour.
Jonas Franzén, spokesman for the Swedish Maritime Administration which is leading rescue efforts, said it is not yet clear what caused the crash.
'A preliminary investigation into gross negligence in maritime traffic is being conducted under the direction of prosecutors,' his agency said in a statement.
Danish rescuers said two people from the Karin are missing and are assumed to have fallen in the water. 'I can confirm an accident has happened but I do not know the circumstances,' Soren Hoj, managing director of Rederiet Hoj which owns the Karin Hoej, added.
'We are deeply concerned,' he added, confirming that the two missing crewmen are both Danish citizens.
The Scot Carrier, almost 300ft long and built in 2018, was en route from Salacgriva in northern Latvia to Montrose in Scotland when the accident happened.
Karin Hoej, built in 1977, was on its way from Södertälje, just south of the Swedish capital Stockholm, to Nykobing Falster in southern Denmark.
Both vessels were sailing in the same direction - east to west - through the 25-mile gap between Sweden's southern tip and Bornholm island when the crash happened.
The Karin was carrying no cargo at the time of the accident.