A Welsh man died in hospital in Wexford last night, hours after he was rescued from the Irish Sea after falling from a ferry. The man (35), who had lived in Kilkenny for the past three years, was on the Stena Line sailing from Rosslare, Co Wexford, to Fishguard in Wales.
Police in Fishguard were last night interviewing passengers on the vessel, the Koningin Beatrix, which left Rosslare port at 10.40 a.m. The man was spotted in the water by several other passengers yesterday as the ferry was in the middle of the Irish Sea. The vessel stopped and emergency services from Britain and Ireland were called, including the Rosslare lifeboat.
The man was picked up after an hour by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter and brought to Wexford General Hospital in a critical condition. Attempts to resuscitate him failed and he died several hours later, the hospital's assistant matron said. A post-mortem will be carried out today.