"Thankfully all the crew were rescued , from the fishing boat. "

A major air and sea search was launched after the UK Coastguard received two distress calls just after 23:45 BST from the vessel, called the Kairos.

The Scottish skipper and four Filipino crew were transferred from the raft to a trawler called the Cu Na Mara which was in the area.All crew are believed to be unhurt.Falmouth Coastguard coordinated the search after the boat sank 75 miles (121 km) west of the Isles of Scilly.

Two Irish coastguard search and rescue helicopters, the RNLI St Mary's lifeboat, fishing vessels and two commercial ships were involved in the operation.

Jim Morrison, from UK Coastguard said: "Thankfully all the crew were rescued. An incident such as this shows the value of having digital selective calling and an electronic position indicating radio beacon on board."Using the information from the distress alerts we were able to locate the fishing vessel's last position quickly and deploy resources to the scene."It was a very strong gale force eight wind and sea states were reported between four and six metres."

The rescued men have been taken to Castletownbere in Ireland.