The Princess Cruises ship brought the three men to safety after their boat sunk near Great Yarmouth on Saturday (August 25).

However, despite the best efforts of the Coastguard, RNLI, independent life boat crews and other vessels, they were unable to locate the rest of the five-man crew.

HM Coastguard on Sunday (August 26) recovered two bodies, believed to be those of the remaining two members of crew.

Lee Duncan, Coastguard operations controller for the east coast, said: “The crew of the sunken fishing vessel are all foreign nationals, we know the three recovered men had been in the life raft for four hours before they were spotted by the cruise ship. We believe the two missing crew were seen to enter the water.”

In an update provided on Sunday, the Coastguard added the two men had been located by helicopter and airlifted to shore, where they were confirmed dead.

Aimee Rampton, Coastguard operations controller, said: “The helicopter located the bodies of the missing crew near the sunken fishing vessel wreckage. All units have now stood down. Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the crew men.”

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency has since confirmed the three men rescued by Pacific Princess arrived in Dover on Sunday and would now return home.

Teena Dowd, a passenger aboard Pacific Princess, told the Press Association the rescue effort took place at around 6.30pm and the three men were aboard “within the hour”.

“People were just sort of holding their breath, everybody was anxious,” said Dowd. “Everybody clapped when they came on the ship.”