Fishermen rescued from burning boat in Irish Sea

Three fishermen were rescued today after their boat caught fire and sank in the Irish Sea.

They were picked up on a liferaft after coastguards were alerted by a mayday call.

Their fishing vessel, Maranatha N498, went down six miles south of Kilkeel, Co Down.

The men were rescued by the Kilkeel RNLI lifeboat which was scrambled with an Irish Coastguard rescue helicopter from Dublin.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known.

Maritime and Coastguard Agency area operations manger Brett Cunningham said: “This is an area where there have been several fishing vessel fatalities of late.”