Community shares in families’ pain

THE whole community of Dunmore East is sharing in the pain and grief of the families of the five fishermen who lost their lives when their trawler sank on Thursday evening, parish priest Fr Brian Power said yesterday.

Speaking at Sunday Mass in a packed church in Killea, Dunmore East, Fr Power said: “We are all affected by this awful tragedy. The scale of it has shocked and numbed us.”

As the search continued for the bodies of the five men lost at sea, their friends and neighbours heard their parish priest refer to one “beacon of light” amid this tragedy. “The way the whole community has been so supportive of the families in their distress,” he said.

“In a fishing village, we’re at the mercy of the sea and, as one person said, the most dreaded sentence you can hear is ‘a boat is missing’. It brings home to us how dangerous and precarious a profession fishing is,” Fr Power said.

Fr Power also prayed for the two men who have been missing since the Honeydew II sank, also off the south coast, on Thursday evening. “We pray for all who are waiting for news. We come also to support those who are grieving.”

Family members of the five fishermen lost on the Pere Charles have continued to come and go from the pier at Dunmore East and the adjacent lifeboat station, as well as being comforted by friends and relations around the town, helpless while the five men remain lost at sea.

“This awful time of waiting is hard for the families and relatives. Time filled with anguish, longing for news and some sort of hope,” said Fr Power during his sermon at yesterday’s Mass. He also told parishioners that God responds in a time of need.

The proceeds from all collections at yesterday’s Masses in the parish went to the RNLI, whose volunteers have been among the many who have put in a huge amount of hours in a bid to find the five men since Thursday evening.

“Today we acknowledge our deep indebtedness to all who take part in the search — the RNLI, naval services, air rescue, garda divers, the Garda Síochána, coastguard and the volunteers on the other trawlers who are helping. We’re deeply indebted to them and ask the Lord to protect them and guide them in this undertaking,” added Fr Power, while also mentioning the RNLI Ladies’ Guild and thanking them for their kindness in recent days.