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A trimaran that was found capsized and empty off the west coast of France at the weekend had gone to sea with three Danes on board, port officials here said Wednesday.
The 'Jonathan Livingston', a 10-metre trimaran, had been berthed at the Moulin Blanc marina in the port of Brest from September 7-23.
The Danes, aged between 30 and 50, spent around three days in Brest during that time before taking the boat to sea on the 23rd without telling anyone locally where they were headed.
The overturned trimaran was found floating in waters about 130km (80 miles) southwest of Brest on September 29 by a fishing boat.
"It was in a very bad state, it had lost one of its three hulls and its rigging," Ingrid Parrot, a spokeswoman for the local sea rescue services, told AFP. The trimaran has not been spotted since and is assumed to have sunk.
Local rescue services did not register any distress call from the trimaran but a yacht in the area spotted an emergency flare that was sent up on the night of 23-24 September.
Adverse weather conditions that night prevented the yacht from getting to the source of the flare and search flights over the area on September 24 failed to spot any boats in distress.
A police investigation into the disappearance of the sailors has been opened.
Is it said to be a Quorning 33 "one off" boat - seems to be some years old.
