A crewman is missing feared dead following an accident on a Harren & Partner heavy-lift vessel off Belgium.

Another seafarer was airlifted to hospital after the incident during an exercise on the 10,100-dwt Palmerton (built 2009), 8km off Zeebrugge on Tuesday. Both men had fallen overboard, the HLN website said.

It cited Rejane Gyssens of the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre (MRCC) as saying the search operation had been called off on Tuesday night.

Harren