AN official inquiry has been ordered into the sinking of a Dunmore East trawler 10 days ago.
It was confirmed yesterday that the Minister for the Marine, Mr Barrett, had appointed a surveyor to try to establish what caused the loss of the 40 foot steel hulled Jenalisa last Sunday week off the Waterford coast.
Three men lost their lives in the tragedy. They were the skipper and owner of the boat, Peter Nolan (39), from Dunmore East, Niall Power (25), also from Dunmore East, and Conor O'Grady (22), from Annestown.
Only Mr O'Grady's body has been recovered so far.
An intensive air, sea and coastal search followed the sudden sinking of the vessel off Brownstown Head, where it was fishing for cod.
Naval Service divers discovered the wreckage of the Jenalisa on the seabed late last week, but found no trace of the two missing men in a search of the wheelhouse.
Bad weather disrupted the search over the weekend, but divers were able to return to the scene yesterday. However, they were hampered by large amounts of netting surrounding the wreckage. The LE Aoife is also assisting in the operation.
The divers lowered a camera to the seabed to take photographs which they hope will help to establish the cause of the sudden sinking. Their findings will be submitted to the inquiry, which has been set up under the 1992 Merchant Shipping Act.
The aim of the inquiry is to find out what caused the sinking of the Jenalisa and make recommendations which might help to prevent a similar accident in the future.
A spokesman for the Department of the Marine said that the findings of the inquiry would be made public, subject to legal safeguards.