Divers find no sign of Honeydew II crew members

GARDA divers made four dives to the stricken Honeydew II vessel yesterday, but found no sign of its two missing crew members.

According to Declan Geoghan of the coastguard service the team of 12 divers found nothing of note during searches of the wreck.

He said the divers had been forced to spend a considerable amount of time cutting through netting which had gathered around the back of the vessel.

They were then only able to have a cursory search of the galley and wheelhouse before calling off the search for the night.

However, he added, weather conditions were meant to be favourable for diving over the next few days, meaning the gardaí should be able to extensively search the wreck.

“Tomorrow morning they will be starting at 9am and the first dive will see a more comprehensive search of the wheelhouse,” said Mr Geoghan.

The Honeydew II sunk 3.6 miles south-east of Ram’s Head between Ardmore and Dungarvan, Co Waterford, on January 10.

It was located by sonar on Tuesday and they were able to identify it by a handrail which was brought to the surface by a creeper device which swept over it.

There have been repeated shore and sea searches for the two missing crewmen, skipper and father-of-four Ger Bohan and Polish native and father-of-two Tomasz Jagla.