Divers on alert for fresh trawler search
A high-pressure system developing in the Atlantic looks likely to arrive in Ireland by the middle of next week and coastguard service officials hope it will provide sufficiently calm, stable weather to allow for a new dive to the wreck of the Dunmore East-based trawler.
Last Tuesday’s attempt to find the bodies of the vessel’s skipper Tom Hennessy and crew members Pat Coady, Andriy Dyrin, Billy O’Connor and Pat Hennessy, had to be called off when poor visibility and choppy waters prevented navy divers from entering the herring boat after they located it in about 35 metres of water, two miles from Hook Head.
The Granuaile was contracted by the coastguard from the Irish Lights service for that diving operation and is likely to be used again next week if the hoped-for favourable weather conditions permit a new recovery attempt. The coastguard confirmed yesterday that a decision would be made over the weekend as to whether or not another navy dive would be mounted next week.
Meanwhile, Ms Anita Jagla, wife of Mr Tomasz Jagla, who has been missing along with skipper Ger Bohan since the loss of the Honeydew II last week, arrived in Dunmore East yesterday and met with coastguard officials before going out to Tramore to assist with the shoreline search.
After two days of high winds, the search was back in full swing yesterday in a bid to find anything that may have washed up from the wreck of the Honeydew, which sank off Mine Head last week, within hours of the Pere Charles going down off Hook Head.
Mr Chris Reynolds, of the coastguard service, said that more than 200 people were expected to take part in the shoreline search over the weekend, despite wet and windy conditions.
“The weather has improved but the forecast is for the wind to pick up again, with gales until about next Tuesday. Depending on the forecast, there may be diving [to the Pere Charles] from Wednesday. The long-range indications are that there’s a high there that could hold, but anything further than a five-day forecast is only guesswork. If that high pressure holds, we could have our window.”
He said both the Granuaile and the naval diving team were ready for the call, weather permitting.
Meanwhile, prayers will be said at masses in Dunmore East during the weekend, as the community continues to offer its support for the families of the five fishermen who were on the Pere Charles when it sank.
Collection boxes have been set up at Power’s Centra in Dunmore East and at Mulligan’s Pharmacy in Waterford’s City Square, for the Dunmore East Trawler Tragedy Appeal, while donations are being accepted at any bank (account number below).
“We’ll be praying for them at the masses on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, 7.30pm and 11am,” parish priest Fr Brian Power said yesterday.
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