A MAJOR search operation will resume at 8am today for five men missing after their fishing boat went down in rough seas near the mouth of Glandore Harbour in west Cork early yesterday morning.
One member of the crew of the formerly French owned Tit Bonhommemanaged to make it ashore and was rescued at around 8am yesterday morning, but a major search operation yesterday failed to find any trace of the remaining five men.
The vessel, which was skippered by Michael Hayes from Helvic Head in Co Waterford, was returning to its home port of Union Hall at around 6am in strong force 7-8 southeasterly winds when it ran aground near Adam’s rock.
Mr Hayes, who is in his early 50s, and the other crew members, Egyptians Abdul Mohammed (43), Said Mohammed (23), Wael Mohammed (35) and Attea Ahmed Shaban (26) had been joined on the trip by a young man, Kevin Kershaw (21).
Mr Kershaw, who is from Dublin but had been living with relatives in Clonakilty, had expressed an interest in pursuing a career as a fisherman and was on his first fishing trip on board the Tit Bonhommeto see if he liked the seafaring life.
It is believed Said Mohamed and Mr Hayes were in the wheelhouse of the 21-metre steel-hulled trawler when she hit Adam’s Island at the mouth of Glandore Harbour at around 6am and that Abdul Mohammed came up as the wheelhouse was hit.
Rescuers believe Abdul Mohammed was sucked out through the window of the wooden wheelhouse, which was badly damaged in the incident, but he managed to make it ashore to a headland to the west of the harbour.
A father of three, Mr Mohammed was found by Toe Head Inshore Lifeboat at around 8am and was airlifted by an Irish Coastguard helicopter to Cork University Hospital, where it is understood his condition is stable.
Searchers believe the remaining three crew were asleep in their bunks when the boat hit the rocks and it is hoped divers will today be able to get down to search the sleeping quarters and surrounding area in the hope of recovering all five men.
A joint team of Naval Service and Garda divers had hoped to get down to the vessel at low tide around 4pm yesterday but after assessing the conditions including a combination of big swells and fading light, they decided to defer the dive until today.
A father of five originally from Bonmahon in Co Waterford, Mr Hayes lived at Helvic Head but had fished out of Union Hall for the past seven or eight years and was an experienced skipper and well regarded within the fishing community.
Mr Hayes is married to Caitlin Ní Aodha, a spokeswoman for the Irish Fishermen’s Organisation, and Ms Ní Aodha was joined by other family members on the pier at Union Hall yesterday as they anxiously waited for news of the search operation.
Helping to co-ordinate the operation was Mr Hayes’s brother Chief Supt Tom Hayes of Bandon Garda station, as gardaí joined with the Irish Coastguard, the RNLI, the Civil Defence, the Naval Service and local fishermen in the search.
One of the Egyptians, Mr Shaban, had arrived in Ireland last year as an asylum seeker, but it is understood that the other Egyptians, who are all from Rosetta near Alexandria, had been fishing in Ireland for the past six years or so.