British coast guard asked to be on lookout for bodies

The Irish Coast Guard has notified its British counterpart to be on the lookout over the coming weeks for the bodies of fishermen lost off the southeast coast last week as easterly tides may wash them across the Irish Sea to Britain.

According to Irish Coast Guard incident co-ordinator, Chris Reynolds, most of the debris from the Honeydew II, which sank on January 12th off Mine Head in west Waterford, is being washed eastwards towards Carnsore in Co Wexford.

"All the debris seems to be coming ashore there so if bodies are to be washed ashore, then we would expect them to come ashore in that general area too," said Mr Reynolds, pointing out that bodies often rise to the surface after 10 to 12 days in the water.

Mr Reynolds said it was possible that any bodies being carried eastward could miss Carnsore Point and be carried across the Irish Sea to Wales.

The Coast Guard had asked its British counterpart to be on the lookout for bodies from the Honeydew II and Pere Charles over the next two to three weeks, though it remained hopeful that the crew of the Pere Charles were still inside the sunken boat.

Skipper Tom Hennessy, his uncle Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor, Pat Coady and Andriy Dyrin from Ukraine were all lost when the Pere Charles sank two miles off Hook Head in Co Wexford while on its way back to port at Dunmore East in Co Waterford on January 11th.

Just over six hours later, Kinsale skipper Ger Bohan and his crewman, Tomasz Jagla from Poland were lost when the Honeydew II went down off Mine Head. Two other crewmen, Lithuanians, Viktor Losev and Vladimir Kostyr were later picked up in a life raft.

Mr Reynolds said that with force six winds whipping up deep swells yesterday, it was impossible for Naval Service and Garda dive teams to dive on the wreck of the Pere Charles and both teams had returned to their bases and were waiting for an improvement in the weather.

He said the three-day forecast was for the weather to worsen today, with winds expected to hit gale force 10 and swells likely to reach seven metres, making it far too dangerous to carry out any sea searches.

"We are asking all vessels to remain in port and we're asking people not to go out searching the shoreline either because it will simply be too dangerous, particularly in places with high cliffs," said Mr Reynolds.

Yesterday, some 80 or so Irish Coast Guard personnel were joined by about 70 volunteers in carrying out searches along the coastline for Mr Bohan and Mr Jagla.