Irish, British rescue services come to aid of Spanish ships south of Fastnet

Irish and British rescue services assisted two Spanish fishing vessels which got into difficulty in storm force winds off the southwest coast yesterday. The Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopter from Shannon dropped two pumps on board a British-registered trawler, Invention, after it reported that it was taking water 120 miles south of Fastnet rock.

The 34-metre vessel with 12 crew on board regained power and was steaming last night to Castletownbere, Co Cork, according to Mr Gene O'Sullivan, divisional controller of Valentia Coast Radio station in Co Kerry.

Falmouth Coastguard in Britain co-ordinated the rescue of 10 crew yesterday morning from a second vessel, the Mar de Los Sargazos, which lost power and radio contact 135 miles south of Fastnet. RAF helicopters winched the crew to safety and flew them to Cornwall, after the decision was taken to abandon the vessel. Another Spanish fishing vessel in the area was waiting for conditions to improve to try to take the drifting vessel under tow.

Meanwhile, the Garda in Galway is still trying to identify the body of a man washed up on the Connemara coastline some weeks ago. It is believed to one of the 12 crew lost from the British-registered Spanish vessel, the Arosa, when it hit the Skerd rocks west of Carna early last month. One crewman, Mr Ricardo Arias Garcia (24), was rescued by the Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky from Shannon. Six bodies have been recovered, and six are still missing.

A 500-tonne ship sank in Dun Laoghaire port yesterday after being damaged in the storms, adds Frank McNally. The Finnishowned Topi was ferrying boulders for use in building the new marina. It was towed to Carlisle Pier on Sunday night after running on to rocks. However, the ship had been holed below the water-line and was badly listing. The crew of three was evacuated and the 50metre vessel capsized shortly before noon yesterday.

A Department of the Marine spokesman said "a very small amount" of diesel had leaked from the ship's engine.