SPANISH and Indonesian fishermen on board a French-registered vessel abandoned their sinking trawler 53 nautical miles south west of Dursey Head and were safely brought to shore in Castletownbere on Wednesday afternoon.
All of the 12 crew on board the Radoche Tercero got into their own life raft shortly after issuing a ‘mayday’ to Valentia Coast Guard at 5.50am on Wednesday morning.
It is understood that the trawler’s fishing gear was in the water at the time, but there is as yet no explanation why the 35m vessel was taking on water.
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The vessel, which had all the appearance of being about to sink rapidly, was abandoned by the crew. They were taken onboard the Punteareas Uno, another vessel that had Spanish crew on board but is a French-registered vessel.
The Irish Coast Guard at the Valentia Marine Rescue Coordination Centre was charged with coordinating the rescue mission and in addition tasking the Shannon-based Coast Guard helicopter R115; all-weather RNLI lifeboat crews from Castletownbere and Baltimore responded.
With the crew safely onboard the other fishing vessel, Baltimore RNLI, under coxswain Aidan Bushe was stood down, and at 9.15am the Castletownbere lifeboat crew, under coxswain Willie Power, departed the scene to return to their base, and making it back by lunchtime.
Shortly before lunchtime on Wednesday, the Coast Guard’s fixed wing aircraft returned to the scene to check on the sinking ship.
Meanwhile, as we go to press, it was stated that the Punteareas Uno would be back in Castletownbere at 3pm.
Further assistance was provided to the 12 crew members, all of whom are reported to be well and not in need of any medical attention.
Brian O’Driscoll, Castletownbere RNLI Launch Authority commended the fishing crew for taking the right precautions.
They used an EPIRB, an Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon, to raise the alarm when they knew they were in difficulty. O’Driscoll also paid tribute to the crew of the Punteareas Uno for coming to their aid, as well as their own colleagues in the Irish Coast Guard.
He noted that this was the first call out for crew member Willie Power in his role as coxswain, and the first call out for crew member Sean O’Shea.
It was an early call and a seven-hour shout, and it was conducted in weather conditions that were described as ‘fair’ with a 2m ground swell.
