THREE missing Russian sailors sparked off a major Bristol Channel search involving five lifeboats after they failed to return to their cargo ship anchored off Minehead on Wednesday night.

They were later found safe and well having lost their way in the fog on their journey back from a night out in Barry, South Wales.

The men were reported missing from the Dutch-registered coaster Alana Évita, anchored two miles off Minehead. 

They had left the ship in a 13-foot inflatable boat to go drinking in Barry, eight miles away. 

They left there at 3.45 am, but the alarm was raised when they had not returned by 7am.

Five lifeboats from Minehead, Burnham-on-sea, Barry Dock and Penarth were launched, together with a Coastguard helicopter. 

And shortly before 8.30am yesterday morning (Thursday) the men and their boat were spotted on Flat Holm island, four miles off the Welsh coast. 

A Coastguard spokesman said: “The tide and the foggy conditions obviously had something to do with the fact that they were travelling in almost the opposite direction to Minehead.”