seriously injured seamen at St. George's.

And last night a US Coast Guard plane from Florida dropped paramedics on board the vessel, which is in the area of Hurricane Tanya, in a bid to keep the men alive until they reach Bermuda.

The ship is expected to arrive this morning, when four crewmen, two of them seriously injured, will be met by waiting ambulances and rushed to the King Edward Hospital.

A spokesman for Harbour Radio last night said that the Rescue Co-ordination Centre in New York had alerted them that the Maltese-registered Kiwi , en route from the Dominican Republic to Ireland, would have to divert to the Island.

He added: "We don't know how the injuries were sustained or the precise nature of them yet.''