Fishermen feared drowned as second trawler sinks

Two more fishermen are feared drowned tonight after a second trawler sank off the Irish coast close to where five others died hours earlier.

Stunned rescue workers involved in a massive search operation looked on in disbelief as they picked up two survivors clinging to a life raft from the early hours of the morning.

They were crew of the Honey Dew II which vanished a few hours after the Pere Charles disappeared in horrendous conditions, claiming the lives of five fishermen.

One of the men had a father and grandfather who drowned in previous sea tragedies.

Relatives of the men missing off the small fishing village of Dunmore East, Co Waterford, watched from the pier as rescue workers called off their search when darkness fell.

Two life rafts have been recovered and the coastguard has given up hope of finding the five trawlermen from the Pere Charles alive.

The 64ft (20m) boat sank in seconds in treacherous seas and gales on Wednesday night two miles off Hook Head, only moments after the skipper had warned a sister vessel of difficulties.

One of the crew, father-of-one Pat Coady, 27, had only returned to fishing that day, having given up the job a number of years ago.

His sister Kelly said: "We lost the grandfather in 1995 and it's the father's anniversary on Sunday ... and now Pat. It was a job he loved doing. We are just trying to hold up."

The five men were due back to harbour with a catch of herring just two hours before the boat sank.

Thomas Hennessy, originally from Kerry, in his 30s and married with two girls, skippered the vessel with the help of his uncle, Pat Hennessy, aged in his 50s and also from Kerry.

Chris Brookes, originally from London and who moved to the area 12 years ago, wept as he remembered Mr Hennessy.

"He was my best mate. He befriended me when I came here. He was a lovely man, a lovely man, that's all I can say," Mr Brookes said.

Local man Billy O'Connor, in his 50s, was also on board along with Ukrainian crewman Andriy Dyrin. The 32-year-old migrant worker and married father-of-one from Sevastopol came to the Irish Republic to earn money for his family and had been due to return home in May.

As night fell and the search was postponed, a second tragedy was unfolding around 40 miles further down the same coast.

A coastguard helicopter and the Naval vessel LE Eimear joined two lifeboats searching for the 72ft trawler Honey Dew II which sank around 3am off Mine Head near Dungarvan, also in Co Waterford.

Two survivors, both Eastern European, of the four man crew were winced to safety from the life raft they had clung to for around 15 and a half hours after rescue services spotted a flare.

One of the rescue workers, Mark McDermott, said: "Obviously it's been a tragic 24 hours. The weather has been very poor and that was a significant factor."

A second coastguard helicopter from Dublin was called in to take over the search for the other two missing crew men when the survivors were brought ashore shortly before 9pm.

A search will resume in the morning for the five men missing, presumed dead, from the Pere Charles.

The last contact with the missing trawler was shortly before 6pm yesterday with sister boat the Suzannah G, which was nearby.

Seconds after the radio message that something was wrong, the trawler vanished from the radar.

The last words from skipper Mr Hennessy were: "Stand by. Something's wrong."

The crew of the Suzannah G headed for the location of the missing trawler but could find no trace of it.