The southeast coast, where Wexford fishing vessel Pere Charles was reported missing last night, has long had a reputation for being one of this coastline's most hazardous areas. Within the past 14 months alone, five lives have been lost in two sinkings - those of the Rising Sun and the Maggie B.
The eight-metre (26ft) Rising Sun was involved in lobster fishing when it sank south of Hook Head in late November 2005. Skipper Pat Colfer (37), of Slade, Co Wexford, died and his body has not been recovered, while crewman Jimmy Meyler (46), who was rescued with colleague Ian Tierney (27), died some hours after he was brought ashore.
The incident claimed a third life when diver Billy O'Connor, of New Ross, lost his life while returning from a dive to the wreck of the boat, which had been located in some 50m (164ft) of water. Mr O'Connor was a highly experienced diver and vice-president of the Irish Underwater Council.
The vessel was salvaged early last year, some 10 weeks after its foundering, but Mr Colfer's body was not located. The Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) report on the Rising Sun is due to be published very shortly.
Last March, two more lives were lost when the 15m (49ft) Maggie B - a beam trawler owned by the Walsh brothers of Ballycotton, Co Cork - was also lost off the southeast.
Glen Cott, Krzysztof Pawtowski and Jan Sankowski had been fishing together for a couple of months, and this was their first exploratory trip on the vessel when they ran into difficulties.
Southwest winds veering southeast and spring tides had whipped up considerable turbulence in the Waterford estuary.
Mr Pawtowski, who survived without a life jacket or survival suit in six-degree temperatures by inflating the boat's life raft and clinging to it, was reported to have said that the vessel sank in minutes some 8.6km south of Hook Head. He was plucked from the water by the Dunmore East lifeboat. Neither Mr Cott nor Mr Sankowski was so fortunate.
The Maggie B was a 17-year-old Dutch-built steel vessel which capsized off the British coast in 1993 (at the time it was registered as Gilsea).
Five lives were lost when sea angling boat Pisces got into difficulties with 10 people on board in July 2002. Lack of life jackets was a significant contributory factor to the drownings off Fethard-on-Sea, Co Wexford, and the boat's skipper was prosecuted.
The fishing industry has been under severe pressure for the last couple of years, at a time of reduced quotas, rising fuel prices and a hostile Government attitude. This forces skippers of smaller, older vessels to stay out fishing long after forecasts tell them it is time to return to port.
