Seven men rescued from sinking trawler

A WEST CORK trawler skipper and a member of his six-man crew narrowly escaped death at sea yesterday when their boat went down 160 miles off the Scilly Isles.

Skipper Noel O’Sullivan, 45, from Castletownbere, was washed overboard with another crew member as they attempted to abandon the vessel. “It was very cold, thank God it was calm. I couldn’t have held on any longer,” he said.

He said he was relieved all the crew made it to safety and were heading back to their families.

“Five of us made it to the life rafts but the captain and another man were in the sea for two hours,” said Castletownbere crewman David Murphy, 42.

Before their rescue he said there were awful moments when he thought his skipper was in the greatest difficulty and would not make it.

“Right now we’re all just incredibly grateful to the navy,” he said.

Mr O’Sullivan — who owns the boat, the Discovery — was last night being treated for hypothermia.

Prayers were said in Castletownbere as news of the Discovery’s sinking broke, especially as fishermen are still trying to come to terms with the sinkings of the Pere Charles and the Honeydew II, which went down off the south-east coat on January 10. Seven crewmen are still missing from those trawlers.

The Discovery sent out an emergency distress call through its Electronic Positioning Radio Beacon (EPIRB) shortly after 10am.

Falmouth coastguard received the alert and requested an Irish marine patrol aircraft as well as two British rescue helicopters to rush to the scene. It diverted fishing and merchant vessels.

The crew, which included two Polish, one Lithuanian, one Latvian and one Portuguese man, were spotted in a liferaft by the Irish fishing patrol helicopter Casa and were picked up by a merchant vessel, the Front Commander, which was en route to Rotterdam.

An RAF helicopter was dispatched and lifted the men from the oil tanker before taking them to RAF Culdrose in Cornwall.

John Nolan of Castletownbere Fishermen’s Co-Op said it was fortunate the Discovery’s crew had been saved. He said Castletownbere had suffered many fishing tragedies and the thoughts of locals were still with the relatives of those who sank with the Pere Charles and Honeydew II.

Local county councillor Noel Harrington said there was great relief in the community that the Discovery’s crew had been rescued.

“But I am very concerned at how an accident could have taken place in relatively fair conditions,” he said.

Steve Huxley of Falmouth Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre said: “Again the EPIRB led to a good rescue. It relied on good co-operation from our colleagues in Ireland, Spain and at Kinloss. We are delighted with the outcome.”