Helicopter delay cost fishermen’s lives: widow

More lives could have been saved in the Tit Bonhomme fishing tragedy if the helicopter response had been quicker, the skipper’s widow believes.

Caitlín Uí hAodha, widow of Michael Hayes and co-owner of the trawler, also questioned the delay in drafting in the local Toe Head Coast Guard to help respond to the unfolding tragedy in January last year.

In the Marine Casualty Investigation Board report published yesterday, the mother of five said both the Waterford and Shannon helicopters should have been tasked to deal with the incident and claimed: “I personally believe, had the helicopter been there sooner, we would be looking at three survivors.”