TREACHEROUS weather conditions and a lack of basic navigation and position plotting skills by one of its crew have been blamed for the sinking of a Cork-registered vessel with the loss of two lives.

A trawler which sank just hours after five fishermen drowned in a separate tragedy suddenly flooded and went down after being struck by violent seas, marine investigators said today.

THE Government is to be asked to implement “closer monitoring” of the country’s fishing fleet for safety purposes after an inquest heard that the alarm wasn’t raised for several hours after a fishing boat sank about two years ago.

The coastal communities devastated after two trawlers sank without trace off southern Ireland united in prayer today as the search continued for a second day.