A RESEARCH project into one of the great mysteries of the sea - giant methane bubbles which can sink ships in seconds - will be the subject of a TV programme on Friday night.

Britain's Bermuda Triangle, made with the help of experts from the North-East, examines the case of a sunken trawler found in an area called Witch Ground, in the North Sea, off Aberdeen, Scotland.

Experts are baffled by the identity of the vessel, which dropped to a seabed which is riddled with pockmarks from escaping gas.

The trawler, found in a large pockmark known as Witch's Hole, is believed to have been sunk by a sudden release of methane gas.

A ship sailing over such a methane blowout would sink in a matter of seconds.

Marine geologist Alan Judd, of Sunderland University, who led the expedition to the vessel, said: "Any ship caught above it would sink as if it was in a lift shaft.

"Even sailors who jumped overboard wearing lifejackets would sink like stones."

The phenomenon has been used to explain the Bermuda Triangle - the area of the North Atlantic in which scores of ships and planes have been lost.

Mr Judd said pockmarks had been occurring for about 10,000 years and were concentrated off Scotland and Ireland. Gas escapes were unlikely off the North-East.

The programme, made by Granada, will be on Tyne-Tees TV at 10.30pm on Friday.