MAIB say they are almost sure they have found the reason why the 70ft vessel plunged to the bottom of the Irish Sea in a matter of minutes.

A spokesman for the MAIB said, "We are using a scale model in the final stages of our inquiry although we are now almost sure we have the information we require.

"We are pretty sure we know what happened but we have had to carry out these last few tests to make sure that our report will stand up. When a vessel goes down like this and there are no survivors, we have to carry out exhaustive test to explore every possibility. It always takes longer but the procedure is fairly standard for the investigation which covers all aspects.''

"We hope to have all our work completed by the first anniversary of the sinking and that our report is to be published by May or early June after our long and exhaustive inquiry.''

So far the MAIB has contributed £53,000 towards the recovery of the vessel and the cost of the investigation is being shared between the MAIB and the Isle of Man Constabulary.

Meanwhile the MAIB say they're investigation into the sinking of the ‘Karianda’ in August has been suspended pending the outcome of an investigation by the police and the Maritime Authorities.