Tributes pour in for lost Isle of Lewis fishermen as coastguard stands down search for two missing crew

HM Coastguard has stood down its search for two missing fishermen after the vessel Kilda vanished off the north coast of Lewis, as tributes were paid to the crew of the stricken boat. Skipper Douglas Craigie, 49, was recovered close to Port of Ness in the early hours of Wednesday, a day short of what would have been his 50th birthday, while Norman Murray, 40, and Murdo Morrison, 23, remain missing. All three men were from the close-knit island community of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides.

The Kilda departed Brevaig at around 7:30am on Tuesday and was reported overdue by 11:35pm, prompting an RNLI and Coastguard response involving aircraft, two helicopters and six rescue teams.

Isles MP Torcuil Crichton said Craigie's family are 'devastated, planning a funeral instead of a party', and that the islands will no longer 'sparkle' with his wit and charm.

Murray and Morrison are both traditional guga hunters — members of the Men of Ness, a centuries-old island tradition centred on the harvesting of young gannet that the MP said must be preserved.