Fishermen search stopped for night

Naval divers will resume a search at 9am tomorrow morning for two young men feared drowned after they ended up in the sea while fishing off Helvick Head in Co Waterford yesterday afternoon.

Father of four, John O’Brien (36) and his friend, father of one, Pat Esmonde (36) had gone fishing for mackerel off of Helvick Head yesterday afternoon when they got into difficulty at around 5.20pm.

Fisherman, Willie Kett from Stradbally in Co Waterford told how he had raised the alarm after he heard one of the men shouting for help while fishing near Carraignascamall Rock just over a mile west of Helvick Harbour.

Mr Kett said that he had passed the two men in the dinghy at around 4.40pm as he was heading west to go pollock fishing and he turned around and was on his way back towards the western shoulder of Carraignascamall when he met the two men again.

“The dinghy was coming up against me and passed maybe within 80 to 100 yards and then veered out to sea and I kept pollock fishing and when I looked again there was nobody in the dinghy and one of the lads was in the water,” said Mr Kett.

“It was like he was doing a back stroke, I thought with the wonderful day and everything – I couldn’t see the second fellow and I thought he might be lying down in the dinghy or behind the dinghy.

“I cut the engine to pull in the pollock board and knocked her out of gear and just as the board was coming up, I heard your man shouting for help so I started the engine and headed out again – they were maybe 200 yards at this stage.

“I could see him in the water but when I got to within about 45 or 50 yards, he went down and when I reached where he had been, he was gone so I went over the check the boat and there was nobody in the boat.”

Mr Kett said that he found two lifejackets along with a fishing rod and he rang the local lifeboat on his mobile phone and stayed on the scene until the Helvick Head Lifeboat arrived on the scene and began searching.

Gardaí under Supt Tom O’Grady were able to identify Mr Esmonde through papers left in his camper van parked at Helvick Pier and late yesterday gardaí notified both his family and Mr O’Brien’s family of the disappearance.

A native of Tipperary Town, Mr Esmonde was living at Derrygrath near Cahir while Mr O’Brien was originally from Golden, Co Tipperary but had been living at Fourmilewater in Co Waterford and their families travelled immediately to Helvic.

Both families maintained a sad vigil at the quayside at Helvick as they awaited news of their loved ones as a team of nine naval divers under Lt Tony O’Regan carried out searches near where the men were last seen by Mr Kett.

The divers, operating in teams of two, worked in relays throughout the day from 11.30am until 8pm, spending up to 28 minutes at a time on the seabed, searching in waters up to 24 metres in Muggorts Bay west of Helvick Head with the entire operation being co-ordinated by the LE Orla.

Meanwhile the RNLI Inshore Lifeboats from both Helvick and Youghal searched the surface along with the Irish Coastguard helicopter from Waterford and the Air Corps fixed wing CASA airplane from Baldonnel.

Local volunteer members of the Helvick Head Cliff and Coastal Rescue team scanned the sea with binoculars along with members of both families who were comforted by local curate, an t’Athair Conchur O Ceallaigh.

Mr O’Brien’s uncle, Sean Dunphy spoke of the shock and sadness felt by the family when they learned on Sunday night that Mr O’Brien was one of two men reported missing on a fishing trip off Helvick.

“Devastated – that’s the only way to describe it – pure devastated …. Just thinking of the four little kids, when they woke up this morning and he wasn’t there- I just don’t know how to describe it,” said Mr Dunphy.