THE CREW of an Irish trawler escaped yesterday after a mid-sea collision in the Irish Sea with an oil tanker.
At about 3am yesterday, the Bridget Carmel, a Wexford trawler – which is better known as the fishing vessel which occasionally appears on RTÉ's the Angelus– was struck by the Ocean Lady, an Isle of Man-registered crude oil tanker, in international waters some 20 miles west of Holyhead in Wales.
The Holyhead coast guard was alerted, with lifeboats from the Welsh port and from Wicklow town being launched immediately.
The tanker, which was carrying oil and was bound for Milford Haven after leaving Rotterdam in the Netherlands, only struck a glancing blow to the fishing vessel, damaging one of its trawling beams.
No one was injured in the incident which maritime experts say could easily have resulted in fatalities.
After arriving back safely at Wicklow yesterday, a man who identified himself as the skipper of the fishing vessel told of how lucky the crew were to have avoided serious injury.
He said: “We’re lucky to be here. I’m absolutely wrecked, we all are.”
He confirmed the boat was the vessel which appears on RTÉ's Angelusand said: "Maybe that stood to us last night."
He declined to comment further but appeared visibly shaken.
A spokesman from the Wicklow RNLI said night-time collisions were fraught with danger.
“This is probably one of the worst incidents imaginable at sea, especially at night,” he said.
“The crew were shaken by the ordeal but we are relived that they are okay.”
A spokesman for the British coast guard said the incident was notified to it by the fishing vessel.
He said he could not confirm reports that the oil tanker continued without stopping.
“Bearing in mind that it was an oil tanker and that it was in communication with the fishing vessel, it’s not as if they could just stop on a sixpence.
“If you’re the captain of an oil tanker and you find out no one has been injured, lost or damaged, then why would you stop?” he asked.
He said the relevant bodies in Britain had been notified and investigations were under way.
“Our surveyors will have a look at the vessel when it arrives and they will have a chat with them.”
He said such incidents occurred but were not “everyday incidents”.
"They [the crew of the Bridget Carmel] will think that they are lucky," the coast guard spokesman added, "but we don't yet know who was at fault".