Four men have been rescued from a sinking boat off the south-east coast.
The alarm was raised early this morning with the Irish Coastguard following a call from Belgian fishing vessel, the Arca, which was taking on water and listing.
A search-and-rescue helicopter left Waterford airport at 8.00am and four men, one Belgian and three Poles, were winched to safety from the 36-metre steel-hulled boat.
Two other men have stayed on board to pump out the water and are continuing their efforts to save the vessel. No one has been injured.
The incident happened 25 kilometres west of the Smalls - a group of islands off St Anne's head near Milford Haven.
A Dublin-based search-and-rescue helicopter is at the scene, and an RAF helicopter is en route from Cornwall to assist.
A French trawler and two other vessels are now also in the vicinity of the Arca.
