Early yesterday morning, three French fishermen were quietly going about their business in the waters between Les Minquiers and Les Iles Chausey to the south of Jersey.

Visibility was bad, with witnesses describing the fog as dense. Above the sound of their own engine, the men, from the French port of Granville, would have heard Condor Vitesse approaching, its 5,000 gross tonnes moving at in excess of 40mph.

Exactly what happened next will have to be left to the official inquiry but according to passengers on the fast ferry, it struck the fishing vessel it dwarfed and left three men in the water fighting for their lives.

Other witnesses described wreckage flying past the stern of the wavepiercer and one said the ferry crew had to be alerted to the devastating impact and for rescue procedures to be put in place.

As we now know, two of the French fishermen are safe but traumatised after being plucked from the sea, while tragically their colleague died.

How they came to be in the path of the ferry and why Vitesse was apparently travelling at speed in allegedly poor conditions is something that the inquiry will wish to examine.

What does seem clear, however, is that this incident could have been far more serious.

Had the fishing vessel been struck side-on by the bows of the wavepiercer it is difficult to see how anyone could have survived on it – the impact would have been like a bomb going off.

As it was, the impact was catastrophic enough and, again from witness accounts, appears to have severed the stern from the rest of the vessel.

The two men who survived are fortunate indeed.

Questions are already being asked about how the incident could have occurred and there will be understandable concerns raised until they are answered.

In the meantime, with one man having been lost, islanders will join operators Condor in expressing condolences to his family and friends – and in giving thanks that the tragedy was not even worse.