Crew flee burning fishing trawler

A TENDER hug from his schoolboy son welcomed home trawler owner and skipper Billy Newman yesterday afternoon, seven hours after he and his crew fled a burning boat 20 miles off the south-west coast.

Mr Newman’s wife Frances and sons, Gerard, 21, and Shane, 13, were at the pier-side in Union Hall for a family reunion.

The family requested privacy and the skipper declined to speak about his ordeal that led, yesterday, to the 18-metre wooden vessel Pod San Yann sinking off the Seven Heads.

The crew of four, including three Portuguese, arrived back in the home port shocked but uninjured. They had launched a life raft after flames swept through the French-built boat.

A Danish tanker initially offered assistance before the crew was transferred to the trawler, Horizon.

The crew had been at sea since Sunday night. A regular skipper on the vessel, John Cahalane, was on leave.

Tom Jones, manager of Union Hall Fisherman’s Co-op, said yesterday: “The sinking of the vessel was a terrible loss to Billy but he and his crew are safe and that’s the main thing.”

Valentia Coastguard picked up the boat’s mayday at 8.23am. The fishermen, reporting an out-of-control fire, advised the coastguard service that they were abandoning ship.

A number of ships and fishing boats were within a 10-mile radius at the time.

A Waterford-based air corps helicopter was sent to the scene.

However, the crew in the drifting life raft was picked up at 9.15am by a cargo ship. The crew remained at the scene for several hours as they watched the burning vessel sink to the seabed.

The naval patrol ship LÉ Ciara, which also responded, stayed at the scene to monitor the incident, to ensure there was no risk of environmental damage.