The 11-man crew of a British-registered fishing vessel have been rescued after they were forced to abandon ship when it started taking in water and caught fire about 100km off the Cork coast.
The skipper of the Spanish-crewed Piedras raised the alarm at about 9am on Wednesday when the boat began taking on water and lost propulsion as she was fishing off the Mizen Head and the Irish Coast Guard Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Valentia began a rescue operation.
It is understood that a fire subsequently broke out aboard the 25m trawler and the 11 members of crew were forced to abandon ship and take to life rafts. They were later picked up safe and uninjured by another trawler, the Spanish registered Armaven Tres, which was fishing in the area.
The Irish Coast Guard tasked its Shannon based Rescue 115 helicopter to monitor the rescue and it remains on the scene while the Dublin- based Rescue 116 was dispatched to Cork Airport where it remains on standby to assist if necessary.
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An Irish Air Corps Maritime Patrol Aircraft is also monitoring proceedings while the Irish Naval Service ship, the LE Samuel Beckett went to the scene. It remained there to monitor the situation before the Piedras eventually sank shortly before 2pm near where the skipper first raised the alarm south west of Mizen Head.
The 46-year-old Piedras, which is registered in Fleetwood in the UK but Spanish crewed, generally fishes for white fish such as hake and monkfish out Castletownbere in west Cork and Vigo in Northern Spain. It left Castletownbere on Sunday after unloading its catch.
It is expected that the Armaven Tres will sail to Castletownbere with the rescued crew of the Piedras.
