Hopes fade for boy, 14, lost in fishing tragedy

Hopes of saving a 14-year-old boy who is missing at sea were fading today following a fishing tragedy which claimed the lives of his father, grandfather and two other men.

Deteriorating weather conditions off Fethard-on-Sea in Co Wexford continued to hamper air and sea searches for Mark Doyle.

Mark’s brother Patrick was one of five people - four of them boys and youths - to survive when the 26ft boat Pisces suddenly sank about a mile offshore, two hours after the 10-strong party had put out from Fethard for a day’s sea angling.

It is not thought that any of those aboard the vessel were wearing life jackets.

Lifeboat crews joined the Coastguard, police and Navy divers and dozens of local fishermen in the search for Mark. So far only a jacket and shoe belonging to the teenager have been found in the water.

A police spokeswoman said: ‘‘You are always hoping that you will rescue someone, we always have to hope that there is this possibility, but as each hour goes on you have to reassess the situation.’’

Police and Coastguard helicopters were grounded yesterday and are unlikely to be used today due to the weather.

‘‘Conditions are very poor. The weather conditions are the same as yesterday, maybe even a little bit worse,’’ a Coastguard spokesman said.

‘‘There is rain, mist, visibility of about 200 metres. We have the resources, the difficulty is the weather and that is hampering helicopter operations. It does not look, from the forecast, that we will be able to use helicopters today.

‘‘However, we have a large-scale surface search ongoing since just after 6am and a shore search.’’

He said that there would be ‘‘very slight hope’’ of finding the missing teenager.

He praised those involved in the search: ‘‘We were very fortunate that there were other vessels in the area and we have to compliment the boat users who were so quickly on the scene.

‘‘The local boats that were on the scene so quickly certainly saved lives. They were out again at the crack of dawn,’’ he added.

Tommy Roche, a fisherman who was first to rescue survivors, said today that many of those he plucked from the water had just minutes to live.

‘‘I would say they had another two or three minutes. We were just lucky that we steamed in the right direction,’’ he said.

By the time he arrived, four men were dead and five other members of the party were clinging on to floating barrels.

Three of the dead were Jim Cooney, a 60-year-old undertaker from New Ross, his son-in-law Seamus Doyle, 33, and John Cullen, 45. The fourth man to die in the tragedy was named as Martin Cullen, of Enniscorthy, County Wexford.

Mark Doyle is Seamus’s son.

The survivors, aged between eight and 20, were Mark’s brother Patrick, Paul Cullen - the son of John Cullen - Shane O’Neill and Derek O’Connor. Pisces skipper Paddy Barron was also rescued.

Police have begun an investigation into the cause of yesterday’s tragedy and the Government’s junior marine minister, John Browne, who visited the scene, promised a separate inquiry by the Marine Casualties Investigation Board.

Although there are rocks in the area, an initial examination of the wreck by divers revealed no obvious signs of damage.