Hopes were fading this afternoon after a massive sea and air search failed to find two County Durham brothers whose fishing boat went missing in heavy seas.

Bobby Temple, 32 and his Brother Brian 26, both from Fencehouses set out in their 36ft trawler the Jan Demise II from North Shields Fish Quay early on Wednesday morning.

The last anyone heard of the two experienced trawlermen, who originally come from Seaham, is understood to be when Bobby's wife Christine received a text message from him at around 11am to say they were heading home.

The alarm was raised about four hours later when the Jan Demise II failed to return and a search was launched at 4.45pm.

Last night Christine and the couple's three children Dale,13, Lewis eight and Shannon, 18 months were being comforted by family members.

A close relative told The Northern Echo: "We are just waiting and hoping that they got into the liferaft that they always carried on the boat.''

He added: "We understand that there was a boat travelling behind them and another one in front when their boat just went missing in the heavy seas.''

The last sighting of the Jan Demise II by another vessel was at 1pm about five and a half miles from the mouth of the Tyne.

News of the missing men stunned residents in Seaham where the two brothers had once lived and fished.

At Riggs Angling store in the town owner Norman Conn said that though only four cobbles now fished from the local harbour: "This is a traditional fishing community and a tragedy of this scale involving two men who originate from Seaham has hit the town hard.''

Yesterday Humber Coastguard widened the search, which had continued overnight, to 1200 square miles of sea and an extensive stretch of shore line.

The offshore search involved a Nimrod aircraft flying at 500 feet, a Rescue Helicopter 131 from RAF Boulmer, RNLI lifeboats from Tynemouth, Hartlepool and Teesmouth as well as about 20 local fishing vessels who were all reporting to Humber Coastguard.

Eight Coastguard Rescue Teams undertook the shoreline search from the River Tyne to Whitby and six RNLI inshore lifeboats were searching up to two miles offshore.

Throughout yesterday members of the family took turns to keep a vigil at North Shields Fish Quay desperately hoping that the men had survived.