Cork RNLI crew come to aid of fishermen in challenging conditions 

Two fishermen were rescued yesterday following reports that a vessel was taking water and had lost power off the Cork coast.

Members of the Castletownbere RNLI were tasked to assist the 20m fishing boat, which had two people on board, by the Valentia Coast Guard Marine Coordination Centre at 4.20am.

The lifeboat was launched at 4.30am under the command of Coxswain Marney O’Donoghue, who was accompanied by mechanic David O’Donovan and crew members Dean Hegarty, Joe Cronin and Andrew O’Neill.

When the lifeboat arrived on scene, two miles South-West of Blackball Head, another local fishing boat was standing by.

Conditions were described as Force 7 south-easterly winds with a four to five metre swell.

The vessel was taking water and had lost power, so the lifeboat crew made a decision to carry out a tow, following an assessment noting that the fishermen could not make any safe onward progress.

The crew managed to attach a towline in challenging conditions and slowly proceeded to tow the vessel back to Castletownbere harbour, where a local tug assisted with berthing the boat at the pier.

Brendan O'Neill, Castletownbere RNLI launching authority, said: “Given the poor weather conditions, the crew aboard the fishing boat made the correct decision to call for help immediately and we are glad that everyone is now ashore safe and well.”