Man drowns, nine rescued off Cork coast

A man died today after a boat carrying 10 people capsized.

A massive rescue operation was launched after the 17ft motor boat carrying nine Swiss nationals and one Irish man capsized in rough waters off Ireland’s south west coast some time before 2am.

The boat was travelling to Coney Island from a pier close to Schull, a small fishing village around 70 miles south west of Cork city. The distance between Coney island and the pier near Schull is about 800 yards, Valentia Island Coastguard said.

The dead man was one of the Swiss nationals, station officer Danny Lynch confirmed.

It is understood the small boat got into difficulties and flipped over, throwing the ten people – all male – into the water. One of the men managed to swim ashore to another nearby island.

“He swam ashore to Long Island. He went up to the first house he met and raised the alarm,” Mr Lynch said.

A massive search operation was launched at about 2am involving coastguard units from throughout the area, the Shannon-based rescue helicopter and lifeboats from Baltimore and Castletownbere.

“When you had nine people in the water in those sort of weather conditions and the boat turned upside down we were pretty sure we were looking for nine bodies,” Mr Lynch said.

The remaining nine people were recovered from the water and taken to Bantry General Hospital.

The Swiss party had flown into Cork last night. All those on board are thought to be aged between 40 and 60.

Weather conditions were very poor last night. Mr Lynch said: “When the helicopter was down there, there were winds at Long Island gusting up to 60mph.

“The meteorological buoy was recording eight metres (26ft) swell, which was extremely high.

“But they (the boat) would have been sheltered by the land so it wouldn’t have been anywhere like those conditions.”

A spokesman for Bantry General Hospital said the nine survivors were discharged from hospital early today after being treated for shock.

Gardai said the tragedy began after the engine on the boat failed.

“They started to drift and they were hit by a wave,” a spokesman said.

It is understood the boat belonged to a Swiss national who lived in the area.