ALMOST three decades of waiting have come to end for the North-East family of fishermen lost at sea when a trawler capsized.

Michelle Wales was four years old when her father, James Wales, and 35 other men disappeared when the Gaul capsized in 1974.

Mr Wales, 30, of North Shields, was third engineer on the trawler. DNA tests have confirmed that his remains are among six discovered on the wreck.

The tests have also identified two other crewmen - mate Maurice Spurgeon and Stan Collier, both from Hull.

Ms Wales said: "I think in my mind, I had accepted he was dead, but my mam and my aunties have been expecting him to come knocking on the door for the last 30 years. This gives us some sort of closure."

The wreck of the Gaul lies 70 miles off the coast of Norway, where it sank in February 1974.

It had been suggested that the Gaul was involved in espionage and that the former Soviet Union might have been responsible for its sinking. But an unmanned dive at the site in 1998 disproved the theory.

Aubrey Bowles, whose brother Ronald, from Wallsend, North Tyneside was one of six Tyneside members of the crew, said last night: "My thoughts are with the families. Now they have to make the difficult decision of what to do with the remains."

An inquest will be opened and adjourned pending the outcome of a public inquiry, expected to be held in summer.