THE MARINE Casualty Investigation Board is expected to initiate an inquiry into the death yesterday of a fisherman off the Mayo coast.
The crewman, who has been named locally as Cathal McDaid, fell overboard from the Mark Amay II west of Achill yesterday morning.
Mr McDaid was the nephew of two brothers who lost their lives in Lough Foyle three years ago, when their vessel was cut in half in a collision. It is understood that Mr McDaid became entangled in trawl gear while the Mark Amay II was fishing some 22km (14 miles) west of Achill Island. Weather conditions were gale force six to seven at the time, with a three metre swell. His crew mates raised the alarm with Malin Head Coast Guard, launched a liferaft, and recovered him from the water. A fellow crewman administered cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.
Mr McDaid was flown to Sligo hospital by the Irish Coast Guard’s Sligo-based helicopter. He was pronounced dead on arrival.
The Mark Amay II is owned by the Conneelys, originally from Co Galway, who formerly owned the Mark Amay, a deepwater vessel. One member of that family died from injuries sustained in a fishing accident some years ago.
In 2002, a crewman on board the original Mark Amay died when he fell from the shelter deck on board the vessel in Galway.
Last month a Derry coroner ordered that an international investigation be carried out into the deaths of Mr McDaid’s two uncles, Daniel McDaid (70) and his brother Francis (68), both from Bunn Culkenny, Malin, who drowned when their boat, the Strath Marie, was involved in a collision on Lough Foyle on March 14th, 2008.
The Strath Marie was cut in half in the collision. Solicitor Ciarán Mac Lochlainn, for the family, stated at the inquest that this was “a case where a small fishing boat off the coast was run over by a larger vessel, which left the area without stopping and without helping the two fishermen, and the people on board the larger vessel decided in their vested interests not to get involved”.
The Buncrana-based solicitor said the fishermen were “crushed by a larger boat which failed to stop and which left both these men in the water, where they drowned. They were completely taken by surprise and they were left on their own to fend for themselves in the water and no help was given to them”.
He claimed the Norwegian-registered Sten Odin left Derry port on the morning of the incident and records showed it slowed down and changed direction as it travelled through the stretch of water where the incident occurred.
* The longest rescue mission in a Sikorsky S92 helicopter was carried out by the British coastguard crew at Stornoway, Scotland, over the weekend with the co-operation of the Irish authorities.
The helicopter crew was tasked to recover a crewman on board a merchant ship, MV Stena Perros.
The man was suffering from severe chest pains. The S-92, with a doctor on board, refuelled at the Irish Coast Guard base in Sligo and at Blacksod lighthouse during the mission, and the man was transferred to Sligo hospital for treatment.