Draft report into Pisces tragedy suggests boat was unseaworthy

LIVES were lost aboard an inshore pleasure fishing boat off Wexford last summer due to the absence of an inflatable life raft and a lack of life jackets, a draft marine report reveals.

The independent Marine Casualty Investigations Board’s final report into the Pisces tragedy, which claimed five lives, is due to be published next week.

But a draft report, delivered to interested parties including the victims’ families, suggested the 26-ft open-deck fishing boat was unseaworthy, overloaded and unstable.

Five people survived the sinking, two miles off Fethard-on-Sea, but among the dead were three generations of one family.

Dick Heron, secretary to the MCIB, emphasised yesterday the marine inspectors’ draft report, available since April 7, was confidential and should not have been published in the media until it was finalised.

“Interested parties, adversely affected by the tragedy, had 28 days to inquire, question, comment or make observations on the inspectors’ report,” he said.

A garda file on the tragedy is with the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The marine inspectors’ report discovered the quick response of skipper Pat Barden, who survived and helped to save some of those aboard.

The report found the hull and deck was in poor condition.

The boat was not watertight, which resulted in its swift sinking.