Four fishermen were recovering yesterday after being rescued from a life raft when their trawler went aground off Hook Head in Co Wexford.
The four-man crew of the 15-metre Coral Strand had been fishing for sprat out of Dunmore East in Co Waterford when they went aground on rocks at Garrylough near Duncannon, at about 8am.
The crew issued a Mayday alert as the timber hulled trawler began taking in water, and they decided to abandon the vessel and take to a life raft.
The men were picked up shortly afterwards by another trawler, Boy River, which had been fishing in the area in foggy but moderate sea conditions.
Both the RNLI Dunmore East lifeboat and the RNLI Fethard inshore boat were launched. The crew were successfully picked up from Boy River by the Dunmore boat.
The Dunmore East lifeboat, with assistance from the Fethard Inshore boat attached a tow to the Coral Strand and lifeboat volunteers went aboard to assess the damage.
The vessel cannot be salvaged and is expected to break up, leading to some fuel and debris pollution in the area in the next few days.
