PLACENTIA BAY, N.L. - The Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to Newfoundland's Placentia Bay after the bodies of three crab fishermen were recovered.

The board says in a news release that it will gather information about the sinking of their seven-metre open boat.

The Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre in Halifax says search and rescue crews recovered the bodies of two of the men Wednesday morning and the third in the afternoon.

Maj. Martell Thompson says the search began Tuesday night when the men didn't return as expected to the village of Davis Cove, N.L., on the northwest side of Placentia Bay.

The family of one of the fishermen, 48-year-old Kenneth Hickey, thanked the coast guard for its efforts in a heart-breaking search.

The two other fishermen have not been officially identified.