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LONDON - One of Britain's worst winter storms in years battered Scotland, the north of England and Northern Ireland for a second day Tuesday, after claiming three lives and leaving thousands without power.

Fears for a Spanish fishing vessel that went missing overnight off northwest Scotland were eased, however, when it was spotted after dawn in rough seas, drifting without power but its crew of 19 apparently safe. The Cibeles, which sent out a satellite distress signal before midnight Tuesday, was spotted by a Royal Air Force plane, and attempts were being made to bring other vessels in the area to its aid.

It will need to be towed (back to port), but it is very fortunate that no one has been injured

a coastguard spokeswoman said. Scotland felt the full force of the storm, which roared off the North Atlantic on Tuesday with winds as high as 124 nautical miles (223 kilometres) an hour. But it also wreaked havoc in Northern Ireland and in the north of England, which was still reeling from another storm at the weekend, as it was forecast to inch down the British mainland.

It's remarkable, the main threats were really posed by the wind. Rain wasn't particularly so much of an issue
Barry Grommett, a spokesman for the Met Office

Roads and bridges were closed, ferry services abandoned and rail routes suspended as police and travel officials appealed to the public to postpone non-essential journeys. Schools and businesses stayed shut for Wednesday, and hospitals cancelled non-essential operations.

One motorist was killed instantly Tuesday on the A1 motorway from Edinburgh to Newcastle, northeast England, when his car collided with a truck whose driver received minor injuries.

In Tayside, a van driver died in another collision near the town of Forfar, while in Northern Ireland a truck driver was killed when high winds pushed his tractor-trailer rig off a bridge over the River Foyle near Londonderry.

Scottish Hydro Electric said 60,000 households and businesses in central Scotland, Argyll, the Highlands and the Western Isles were still without power Wednesday morning.

Ferry services that link the islands off the west of Scotland to the mainland were cancelled, and the Scottish ambulance service urged the public to avoid non-essential calls.

On the island of South Uist, coastguards were called out to rescue an 84-year-old woman trapped in her home by rising flood water. In northwest England, about 10,000 homes in the Northumberland market town of Hexham were still without water in the aftermath of the previous storm which hit Saturday.

Copyright 2005 AFP & WeatherOnline Ltd