The sailors, who were aboard the aircraft-carrier Principe de Asturias, fell 20 metres (60 feet) to the ground when a crane toppled in the port of San Fernando, in Cadix province.

Three people died in similar circumstances on Wednesday caused by the high winds which have been blowing over northern Spain.

The victims were two elderly women killed when a crane blew over onto their apartment block in La Coruna, and a pregnant woman killed when a crane hit her home in the Basque region of Bilbao.

SPACE.WIRE