A MEMORIAL has been unveiled to remember the six Russian sailors who died after their ship sank in heavy seas near Bardsey Island five years ago.

The MV Swanland sank in a gale-force 8 storm in the Irish Sea, 10 miles off the Llyn Peninsula, at around 2am on Sunday, 27 November, 2011. She was carrying limestone from Raynes Jetty near Colwyn Bay to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

The search and rescue mission was co-ordinated by Holyhead Coastguard and involved RNLI lifeboats from Pwllheli, Porthdinllaen and Abersoch and the RAF Sea King search helicopters.

Two of the Russian crew, Roman Savin and Vitaliy Karpenko, were rescued during the sinking, with Prince William taking part in the rescue mission.

The crew members who have never been found are Captain Yury Shmelev, 44; chief engineer Gennadiy Meshkov, 52; second engineer Mikhall Starchevoy, 60; able seaman Sergey Kharchenko, 51, and ship’s cook Oleg Andriets, 49.

Chief officer Leonid Safonov, 50, was pronounced dead after his body was recovered from the sea shortly afterwards.

On Sunday, a memorial service was held outside St Hywyn’s Church where a headstone was unveiled and blessed by Father Huw Bryant in memory of the crew of MV Swanland.

A number of volunteers from the Porthdinllaen, Abersoch and Pwllheli RNLI teams were present at the service held outside in Aberdaron.

Andrew Howson, from Tobulk Ltd, who owned and operated the ship, was present at the service to represent the company and the families and said he was pleased there was now a memorial plaque in place to remember those who died.

Read the full story in this week’s Arfon/Dwyfor edition of the Cambrian News