Teams of Naval Service and Garda divers remained on standby all day in Dunmore East yesterday in the hope that the weather would improve so they could dive at a location off Hook Head where they believe the missing Pere Charlessank.
The skipper, father of two Tom Hennessy; his uncle, Pat Hennessy; father of five Billy O'Connor; and father of one Pat Coady, all living in Dunmore East; and father of one, Andriy Dyrin, from Ukraine, died in the tragedy.
Lieut Cdr Terry Ward said searchers believed the Pere Charleswent down close to where her emergency position-indicating radio beacon was activated. Given that the water is only about 30m deep there, it is not believed she drifted far before hitting the seabed.
Lieut Tony O'Regan of the Naval Service dive team said his team and the Garda divers had gone out at about 11am yesterday to see if it was possible to dive at the location but the sea was too rough.
"The location where we believe the boat went down is well within our capabilities in terms of depth but we need to get a window of opportunity with the weather - there's a possibility we might get a bit of a lull on Sunday," he said.
"We can dive in swells of up to two metres but there are swells of five metres out there today throwing up 20ft waves and we have to think of the safety of the dive team."
The Naval Service divers are equipped with side-scan sonar which they believe will help them identify the location of the steel-hulled Pere Charlesbut it, too, requires reasonable weather conditions and cannot be used in heavy swells.
According to one source, it is hoped that because of the speed with which the Pere Charlessank, all five men are still on board and their bodies can be recovered if divers can get down to her in the next few days.
"She was finished fishing so all the crew, bar the skipper, should have been down in the galley - there was no need for them to be on deck," said the source.
While the divers were prevented by the weather from searching for the Pere Charles, about 200 people were involved in a shore search for the vessel, with Coast Guard cliff and coastal teams from Wexford and Waterford combing the shore.
Some 120 personnel from teams at Carnsore, Kilmore and Fethard were joined by about 60 people from Dunmore East in searching the shoreline around Hook Head and Dunmore East.
RNLI lifeboats from Rosslare, Kilmore Quay and Dunmore East were joined by close to nine fishing vessels from Dunmore East and Kilmore Quay, while a Coast Guard helicopter and the Aer Corps Casa also assisted in the search.
Relatives of the missing men gathered again yesterday at the RNLI station at Dunmore East to maintain the long vigil for news.
