Six people, including an eight-year-old child, were rescued by the Garda Water Unit after their boat sank in under three minutes in Lough Swilly, Co Donegal.
A former mayor of Letterkenny, Mr Ciarán Brogan, his brother Brian, sister-in-law Yvonne Brogan and their son Ryan, the boat's owner Mr Charles Devlin and another man, Mr Hugh McLoughlin, were on a day's outing.
The newly refurbished boat got into trouble between Dún Rí and Knockalla in Lough Swilly, shortly before 7 p.m. on Saturday. As the boat sank, one of the men used a mobile phone to raise the alarm.
The Lough Swilly lifeboat was called out and the Garda Water Unit, including three local gardaí, was in the area as part of the implementation of new water safety regulations and coastal watch patrols.
The unit of five was directed to the area about three miles into Lough Swilly and found the six, who had been in the water for more than 20 minutes.
Sgt Tosh Lavery of the Garda Water Unit praised the actions the six had taken with the "limited resources they had".
"The woman and child were trapped in the wheelhouse when the boat started to go down, stern first. One of men smashed the window and pulled them out."
He added that they had a few life-jackets and life-belts and put them together and were grouped around them.
"The boat is called Charlie's Angel and the angels were definitely looking after them," he said.
All six were released from Letterkenny hospital later on Saturday night. Mr Barry Stevenson, spokesman for the Lough Swilly Lifeboat crew, said they were "extremely lucky".
"All occupants of the boat were in the water for about 20 minutes and very deeply shocked," he said.
The lifeboat's skipper, Mr Mark Barnett, said: "The top mast of the boat was all that was to be seen when we arrived. The young boy had a laceration to his head and the others were in shock."
