Four men rescued off Waterford coast

Four men have been rescued from a sinking boat off the south-east coast.

Four men have been rescued from a sinking boat off the south-east coast.

The alarm was raised early this morning with the Irish Coastguard following a call from Belgian fishing vessel, the Arca, which was taking on water and listing.

A search-and-rescue helicopter left Waterford airport at 8.00am and four men, one Belgian and three Poles, were winched to safety from the 36-metre steel-hulled boat.

Two other men have stayed on board to pump out the water and are continuing their efforts to save the vessel. No one has been injured.

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The incident happened 25 kilometres west of the Smalls - a group of islands off St Anne's head near Milford Haven.

A Dublin-based search-and-rescue helicopter is at the scene, and an RAF helicopter is en route from Cornwall to assist.

A French trawler and two other vessels are now also in the vicinity of the Arca.