THE news the families of two missing Romanian fishermen have been dreading for more than a week has been confirmed.

The bodies of Mitch Ilie and Irinel Popovici, missing since their small boat sunk near the Rampion Windfarm in the early hours of August 6, were identified by their families yesterday after being recovered from the sea.

Friends said it was the devastating news the families had been fearing. Readers are being encouraged to show their generosity by donating to help pay to bring relatives from Romania for the funeral.

The first body was reported to the Coastguard at 7am by a fisherman after spotting it 2.5 miles out of Shoreham Harbour. A lifeboat was launched and the second body was found as it made its return journey just before 8am.

Terry Brown, landlord of Mitch and Grandad’s Bike Shop in Elm Grove, Brighton, where Mitch Ilie worked, said: “Hope started off high they may still be alive but gradually over the week the chances become slimmer and slimmer until we got the terrible news. Mitch really did live for his family. They have found it very difficult to cope without him. Irinez used to work very hard as a labourer, doing work for very low wages.

“There are now the extra costs of trying to get relatives across from Romania. They are country people from Romania, they do not have a lot of money. We’re not asking people to fund even a flight, they will be taking a 36 hour coach journey.”

The bike shop reopened in recent days after Mr Brown recruited a keen young shop assistant. Unfortunately, a thief took advantage of his inexperience on Saturday and stole a £140 bike having test ridden a much cheaper model.

Sheila Gover, the widow of shop founder Stewart Gover, said no one had the code for the CCTV system to access footage.

Mrs Gover added: “We were hoping they would get picked up by a boat and could be in hospital and had lost their memories. It is even more sad because they’re both fathers. James [Mitch’s two-year-old] hears people in the shop and thinks it’s his dad. He knows something’s wrong, he’s upset but it’s hard to explain it to him. It’s possibly even worse for Irinel’s wife who has lost her husband and her brother.”

Visit justgiving.com/crowdfunding/brightonshorehamboattragedy2017romanianfamily.

MAN FOUND BY BOAT CREW IS YET TO BE IDENTIFIED

THE BODY of another man found at sea before Mitch Ilie and Irinez Popovici is yet to be identified.

The body was recovered by Coastguard teams on Friday after a boat crew spotted him floating in the water near the Rampion wind farm, close to where Mr Ilie and Mr Popovici were fishing on August 6.

A Sussex Police spokesman said they believe they know who he is, but cannot formally identify the man.

Crew members on the boat saw the body being carried along by the waves on Friday morning, prompting them to send an alert message to the Coastguard.

The RNLI Shoreham lifeboat was launched to retrieve his body at around 9am.

Police said at the time they did not think the fatality was Mitch or Irinel, proving to be correct after their bodies were found by the Shoreham lifeboat within an hour of each other yesterday morning.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The man has not been identified formally.

“We believe we know who he is.”

The man had still not been identified when The Argus went to print last night.