The three fishermen had to escape their sinking trawler in the stormy waters near Kinsale and swim to an RNLI rescue boat.Kinsale RNLI
Three fishermen were rescued from their sinking trawler in the waters off the Cork coast on Sunday evening.
Their dramatic escape from the sinking vessel and into the safety of a Royal National Lifeboat Institution rescue ship was captured by the lifeboat’s onboard camera.
The three fishermen, who are all from Portugal, hit rocks in the waters near Kinsale Harbour around 6:10 pm on Sunday evening and sent a distress signal, which was received by RNLI Kinsale.
Ireland has been battered by severe weather over the last few days, with snow in Kerry, flooding in Cork and an Orange Alert from Met Eireann.
The brave volunteer rescue crew, comprised of Nick Searls, Jim Grennan and Matthew Teehan, arrived at the scene within a few minutes and guided the three fishermen, who had to swim individually to the rescue boat.
“Our priority was to get the crew safely off the trawler, which was complicated by the breaking waves coming over the top of the boat,” Kinsale RNLI Helm Nick Searls said.
“We needed to maneuver the lifeboat in as close as possible to the stricken trawler so that the three fishermen could individually jump into the water to be recovered immediately by the lifeboat crew.
“The fishermen were wearing lifejackets and the operation to recover all three of them onto the lifeboat was successful.”
The three men did not suffer any severe injuries, though they did lose their personal belongings to the wreckage. An appeal was issued to the Kinsale community on their behalf.
Yesterday, drone footage of the wreck of the trawler, the Sean Anthony, was released online: