A major air-and-sea rescue off the south-west coast was being scaled down last night as one fisherman was feared drowned while another was saved. Mr Patrick Murphy, a father of five in his 50s, from Eyries, west Cork, was missing late last night.
He was the engineer on the trawler, Rosses Morn, but the skipper and owner, Mr David O'Driscoll, in his late 30s, was winched to safety by a rescue helicopter from the Irish rescue services.
The trawler, which had been fishing for herring with a six-man crew on board, had put into Cobh and was on its way to Castletownbere at the end of its fishing season. However, four of the crew decided to return to Castletownbere by land and disembarked at Cobh.
Mr Murphy and Mr O'Driscoll then decided to take the trawler to Castletownbere and were hit by some heavy seas as they neared Courtmacsherry Bay off the south coast. The trawler was driven on to rocks and holed at about 6 a.m. yesterday morning. A Mayday message was transmitted and both Mr Murphy and Mr O'Driscoll appeared to have evacuated the vessel using life rafts.
Local boats, the Courtmacsherry and Baltimore lifeboats, rescue helicopters from Waterford and Shannon and the LE Ciara, which was in the vicinity, joined in the search, but as dusk fell there were fears for Mr Murphy's safety and the rescue effort was being scaled down.