"The tears only ran when we saved them"

The incident occurred at Doggers Bank in the North Sea, where Stella Nova was fishing for sizzling on May 31. At 23:30, they were reached by an emergency call via EPRIS, a system that is activated automatically when a boat drops. 

- We were eight, nine miles away when we got the alarm and the position. Had they not had EPRIS we would never have found them - and then they would not have survived, says Christer Bryngelsson. 

Later it turned out that the English fishing boat only had the system for a few months.

At half past one, Stella Nova arrived at the area and after a while saw flashing lights. 

- But there were only two empty life rings with flashlights. Then I thought it was probably over, says Christer Bryngelsson. 

Stella Nova gave a powerful signal that echoed across the water in the dark. 

- Then an emergency rocket came up! They were five hundred meters away.

The three Englishmen in their 30s desperately clung to a lifebuoy and a very small life raft. It turned out that their fishing boat was churning already at nine o'clock. At one o'clock they were safe at Stellla Nova, frozen but well-kept. The first thing they had to do was to shower warmly to bring up the body heat. 

- We had to find clothes for them, because they only had their wet jeans and broken t-shirts. And then we had the chicken stew that we heated. They were so happy. It felt fantastic! I could hardly see the tears flowing, recalls Christer Bryngelsson. 

A helicopter with doctors was sent to see that the men were okay. Later they could be transferred to a rescue boat.

- One of the English had a baby of five weeks at home, and another had a baby of five months. Their wives are so grateful that we saved their husbands. And the men themselves say we are blood brothers now. 

No one knows why the English fishing boat so suddenly and quickly angled. 

- The skipper didn't even have to press the red distress button, but everyone just had to throw themselves out. It was lucky that it was nice weather. The boat was up and down first, so they could climb the keel. But when the boat sank, they had only one buoy, says Christer Bryngelsson.

Only an hour after the crash, the rescue fleet floated to the surface and was inflated. But it was very small. Four times it overturned when all three tried to cling.

Christer Bryngelsson is happy that the story got a happy ending and that it didn't blow anymore at the time.

"If it had been ten seconds, they would never have managed," he says.