The Shannon based Irish Coast Guard search and rescue helicopter was involved in a dramatic lifesaving operation off the south coast on Friday afternoon.
In a joint operation between the Irish Coast Guard and RNLI, a total of 13 sailors were rescued with nine crew members being airlifted by helicopter.
The major rescue operation was mounted after a French fishing vessel ran aground off Dursey Island Co Cork. While nine crew were evacuated by helicopter, four crews members remained on board the vessel as efforts were made to refloat it.
Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue coordination centre on Valentia Island in Kerry were alerted to the vessel’s situation shortly after 2.30pm on Friday. A rescue operation was immediately mounted with Rescue 115, the Castletownbere All Weather Lifeboat RNLI and Castletownbere Coast Guard unit being tasked.
The RNLI lifeboat reached the scene around the same time as Rescue 115, and the volunteer crew observed that the vessel was hard aground, listing and rocking back and forth. The vessel’s crew who were on the deck and all wearing lifejackets were safe and well. However, with the trawler rolling 20-30 degrees to the right towards rocks, there were concerns that the boat may not hold.
A decision was made not to attempt to pull the vessel off the rocks at that point but instead to airlift nine of the vessel’s crew off to safety.
After nine crew members were successful winched off the vessel by the crew of Rescue 115, the trawler eventually came off the rocks but lost steering 100m from the shore. The lifeboat crew worked with the four remaining crew to establish a tow line. Due to the near proximity to the shore, the lifeboat crew were assisted by the crew of a local fishing boat that was in the area at the time who helped to push the casualty vessel away from the shore.
The tow was successfully set up 15-20m from the shore and the trawler was then towed out to sea by the lifeboat. The crew of Castletownbere RNLI subsequently passed the tow over to a tug on arrival.
With assistance from the lifeboat, the fishing vessel (Grand St Bernard, registered in France) subsequently re-floated and is being towed to Casteltownbere by a commercial tug, where it is expected to arrive before 8pm. Upon arrival the vessel will be drydocked to enable a detailed hull inspection.
Castletownbere RNLI Coxswain Dean Hegarty said afterwards: ‘This was a challenging call out given that the boat was listing and there were concerns that it might roll further. We want to thank and commend our colleagues in Rescue 115, this was a great example of joint work and co-operation. We also want to thank the vessels in the area at the time who either stood by or assisted along with the two tugs that came from Atlantic Towage and Marine. We wish the trawler’s crew well following their ordeal today.”
