Another Irish fishing trawler has been lost at sea. The 23m (77ft) vessel Discoverysank 110 miles south of Mizen Head shortly after 10am yesterday, minutes after its automatic distress signal was received by the coast guard at Kinloss in Scotland.
All seven crewmen, two Irish and five foreign nationals, were rescued after an international operation involving coast guard services on both sides of the Irish Sea. The Irishmen were last night named as skipper Noel O'Sullivan and David Murphy, both from Castletownbere, Co Cork.
Minister for the Marine Noel Dempsey last night expressed his relief that all crew members were saved and voiced his thanks to the emergency services in the UK as well as the captain and crew of an oil tanker, the Front Commander, which was en route to Rotterdam but diverted to the scene and lifted the men from two liferafts.
A distress signal from the Discovery, which fishes out of Castletownbere, was received shortly before 10am at the UK coast guard's Mission Command Centre at Kinloss, which covers the northeast Atlantic region.
Kinloss advised the Irish Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre which in turn tasked the Air Corps fishery patrol plane, the Casa. The air corps dropped emergency equipment and notified a number of vessels in the area including the Front Commander. It also notified the Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Falmouth, which in turn despatched two royal navy helicopters from Culdrose in Cornwall.
A UK coast guard officer said one man was in the water and was taken to hospital suffering from mild hypothermia.
The men were airlifted from the tanker and were recovering in Culdrose last night.
The loss of the Discoveryis the fourth in a series of sinkings of fishing vessels off the south coast of Ireland.
In recent weeks the Irish Coast Guard, naval vessels and fishing trawlers have carried out unsuccessful searches for the bodies of seven men from the Pere Charlesand the Honeydew II, who were lost on January 10th. A crew of two men had a narrow escape when a third vessel, the Renegade, was subsequently lost off the southeast coast.
Five men drowned when the Pere Charlessank two miles off Hook Head, Co Wexford, while two others lost their lives just hours later when the Honeydew IIsank nearby, off Minehead, Co Waterford.
The Department of Transport has confirmed the cessation of diving operations around the Pere Charles.A spokeswoman for the department said officials were anxious to facilitate any memorial services which might be required. Shore-based searches are to continue.
A coast guard spokesman said emergency signals, such as the automatic electronic positioning radio beacon, and radio communications on trawlers, were vital to safety aspects, frequently determining whether crews were rescued or not.