Bid to raise trawler resumes

Divers were today resuming attempts to raise the Pere Charles trawler after bad weather suspended operations overnight.

Salvage contractors have returned to the site where the stricken vessel remains 35 metres under water two miles off the Co Wexford coast.

Divers at the scene were called ashore at 3.15am this morning when weather conditions deteriorated, but at 11am were given the go ahead to return to sea.

Salvage company Irish Diving Contractors (IDC) and the Irish Coast Guard are working together to lift the stricken boat, which claimed the lives of five fishermen when it sunk in stormy weather in January.

Ger Hegarty, Irish Coast Guard co-ordinator in Dunmore East, said the vessel should be raised by tomorrow morning at the latest and not today as initially planned.

"They have the netting underneath and the vessel is ready to be righted," he said.

"When they right it then they will commence lifting.

"The wind and swell picked up overnight which is why they had to suspend work, but it should be okay for the rest of the day.

"However, there was about a 10-hour gap that we lost and I think it will be late evening before it's lifted and will probably be tomorrow morning before it's totally lifted.

"Then the weather is due to get worse."

Skipper Tom Hennessy, his uncle Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor, Pat Coady, and Andriy Dyrin all died in the tragedy. Their bodies have never been recovered.

Their families are now hoping the salvage operation will locate their remains and finally reveal why the boat sunk.

A second fishing vessel, the Maggie B, was successfully raised from the seabed on Monday by the special crane barge.

That trawler sank in the same area as the Pere Charles in March last year with the loss of Skipper Glynn Cott, 30, from Ballycotton, Co Cork, and his crewman, Jan Sankowski, 45, a Polish father of one.

Its eerie shell will remain anchored at Dunmore East, until the Pere Charles is lifted.

Both trawlers will then be brought to Arklow, where marine casualty investigators will examine the vessels.

A preliminary search of the Maggie B found no evidence of bodies on board, however a thorough examination of its interior is still to be carried out.