Kinsale trawler:Two fishermen were rescued and a search was continuing last night for two of their colleagues following the loss of a second fishing vessel this week off the southern coastline.
The four crew - two Lithuanians, one Pole and one Irish - were on board the 22-metre seiner/trawler Honeydew II, owned by Gerard Bohan of Kinsale, Co Cork, which was reported overdue back in port yesterday evening.
Fears for the vessel's safety were raised when the Coast Guard issued a "pan-pan" alert at 5.40pm informing potential rescuers of an emergency six miles east of Mine Head, Co Waterford.
The two Lithuanian crew members, Viktoz Losev and Vladimir Kostvr, were spotted in a life raft off Mine Head within an hour of the alarm being raised, and were airlifted to safety by the Coast Guard helicopter from Waterford. They had been in the raft in heavy seas for some hours, and said they believed their two colleagues, including skipper/owner Mr Bohan, were in a "life-ring".
A search was extended, involving the Coastguard helicopter, the Ballycotton lifeboat and the Naval Service patrol ship, LE Emer. A Naval Service spokesman said area weather conditions were very difficult.
The wooden vessel had been fishing for whitefish, and its last position was given at 12.30am yesterday, some seven miles east of Mine Head. This position was transmitted from the vessel's monitoring system (VMS) - an automatic satellite tracking device overseen by the Naval Service's Fisheries Monitoring Centre.
A new position is normally given every four hours, and the Naval Service tried to test the signal box when it heard nothing more yesterday. It was initially believed that the vessel might have suffered a fault with electrical equipment in bad weather, but efforts by the Naval Service to "poll" the VMS produced no signal. Concerns grew when there was no further contact with shore.
The Honeydew II was built in a Bord Iascaigh Mhara boatyard in Baltimore in 1983, and was formerly known as the Shay Óg. It fished initially out of Castletownbere, and had several owners before being purchased by Mr Bohan, who is a director of the Irish South and West Fishermen's Organisation (IS&WFO).
In a related development, a fishing vessel trying to seek shelter from bad weather on the west coast last night was initially refused entry to harbour because it had not given four hours' notice of its intention to land fish under EU rules.
A Department of Marine spokesman said the situation had been rectified and the vessel had been allowed to land, once it became aware of the issue. The department had informed fishing industry representatives late last year that safety should not be compromised in complying with the EU regulation.