Seven fishermen are feared drowned tonight after two fishing vessels sank in separate incidents off the south east coast.
Owner of the 'Pere Charles' Michael Walsh
The search for two crewmen from the 24-metre Honeydew 2, which is thought to have sunk at around 11pm last night, is continuing after two men were rescued this evening from a lifeboat eight miles south of Tramore.
A second lifeboat, which was empty, was found tonight.
The search will continue for some hours yet and a coast line search is planned for the morning.
Earlier, the search for five crewmen from another missing trawler off the Wexford coast was called off for the day.
Two empty life rafts from the 20-metre Pere Charles were found at Kilmore and St Patrick's Bridge near the Little Saltee. The vessel left harbour yesterday morning to fish for herring.
The search was called off this evening as conditions worsened. All five crewmen are feared drowned.
A full-scale air and sea search got underway for the crew of the second vessel, the Honeydew 2,at around six o'clock this evening. The vessel was last sighted seven miles south west off Mine Head, between Youghal and Dungarvan.
The Honeydew 2, which fishes out of Kinsale Harbour, had four men on board, and was last in radio contact in the early hours of this morning.
A Coastguard spokeswoman confirmed to ireland.com tonight that both rescued men are Lithuanian. Another man, who is thought to be eastern European and the skipper who is from Kinsale in are still missing.
The lifeboat had drifted approximately 18 miles from where the boat was last sighted and the men were in the water for some 20 hours.
The rescued men were taken to Waterford Regional Hospital and are reported to be in good condition.
A coastguard helicopter, the naval vessel LE Emerand the Ballycotton and Dunmore East lifeboats are participating in the search. Three fishing vessels are also participating in the search.
The search area is some forty miles from the area where the Pere Charles is thought to have sank.
The Pere Charles - crewed by five men from Kerry, Wexford and Ukraine - left harbour yesterday morning to fish for herring.
Extremely poor weather hampered the search, which was led by three RNLI lifeboats from Kilmore Quay, Rosslare and Dunmore East, and an Irish Coastguard helicopter from Waterford.
A Coastguard spokeswoman said gusty gales and a heavy swell had made the search difficult but it would resume at first light tomorrow.
The vessel is skippered by Thomas Hennessy from Kerry who has been living in Dunmore East.
Also on board were his uncle, Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor from Dunmore East, Pat Coady and a Ukrainian crew member who has been with the vessel for several months.
Earlier, searchers reported spotting what appears to be debris in the area where the trawler was believed to have been fishing.
The owner of the vessel, Michael Walsh, said today he last spoke with the crew by telephone at 5.45pm yesterday and when he rang back at 6.05pm to check on something there was no response. "I don't know what happened. Whatever it was happened very quickly," he said.
The last contact from the crew was made to the missing trawler's sister boat, the Suzannah G, which was nearby. Seconds after the radio message that something was wrong, the Pere Charlesvanished from the radar.
The crew of the Suzannah Gheaded for where the missing trawler was located but could find no trace of it.
A spokesman for the Irish Coastguard said: "We picked up an emergency beacon signal around four minutes after 6pm." The message said: "Stand by. Something's wrong."
Mr Walsh said it was a "devastating time for all in the area. There's a black cloud in Dunmore and it will not go away until we get some news."
He said Mr Coady had given up fishing as a full-time job some time ago to take a post with the electricity board onshore in Waterford.
The young father, an experienced trawlerman, was just going out on the herring run for one day to earn some extra cash.
"He was spending a bit of time around the pier recently, and I read between the lines that he was missing it. We were glad to have him on board, he is very experienced." said Mr Walsh.