HMS Quorn sailors caught up in Spanish police row
Sailors from the Ports-mouth minehunter HMS Quorn have been caught up in a police row in Spain.
Three crew members were forced into an embarrassing apology after Nato personnel raced inflatable boats close to a crowded beach.
Police detained 16 male and female sailors before they were put up before a press conference on Wednesday in Vigo, north west Spain.
But the captain of HMS Quorn, Lieutenant Commander Tim Neild, denies that the British sailors did anything wrong.
Witnesses said the sailors, including Danish personnel, ignored police pleas for three hours as they raced the boats and a jetski.
They were stopped when a Spanish Civil Guard patrol boat was sent to detain them and bring them to the port.
Some sailors from the group face fines from Spanish authorities.
Lieutenant Commander Brett Dawe, second in command of the Royal Navy vessel HMS Quorn, is understood to have met the Spanish authorities to explain the incident.
A navy spokesman at Whale Island in Portsmouth said: 'We have seen the reports and the Commanding Officer of HMS Quorn has told us they do not reflect what happened.
'There were four boats out for a diving expedition and, while several did enter the restricted swimming area, Quorn's crew stayed out. They did nothing wrong.'
The Danish commander of the flotilla, Henrik Rasmussen, and the Danish consul in Vigo also apologised at a press conference.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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