Maritime surveyors from the Marine Casualty Investigation Board will today begin examinations of both the Pere Charles and the Maggie B in Arklow, Co Wicklow, in an attempt to establish why both trawlers sank during separate incidents.
Surveyors from the casualty investigation board and the Marine Survey Office of the Department of Transport will start their examination after gardaí yesterday completed their searches of both vessels without finding any remains of any of the crew who were lost when the boats went down.
Five men, skipper Tom Hennessy (32), his uncle Pat Hennessy (48), Billy O'Connor (50), Pat Coady (28) and Andriy Dyrin (30) from Ukraine, were lost when the Pere Charles sank while skipper Glynn Cott and his crewman, Jan Sankowski were lost when the Maggie B sank.
Garda divers spent several hours searching the interior of the Maggie B after it was moored alongside the quay in Arklow.
They completed their search at about 2pm yesterday without finding any bodies, although they did find some personal items belonging to the crew.
Fellow members of the Garda water unit had earlier completed the search of a small number of compartments on board the Pere Charles but failed to find any bodies, although they also recovered personal items belonging to the crew.
According to Dave McMyler of the Irish Coast Guard, which is overseeing the investigation of the accidents by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, it is expected that marine surveyors will spend several days examining both vessels in an attempt to try and understand why they sank.
Pat Hennessy, who lost his brother Tom and his uncle Pat when the Pere Charles went down, said the news that there were not any bodies on board did not come as an "awful surprise" to the family.
"Seeing if there were any bodies was always the big concern for us and even though we weren't very optimistic after seeing her last Thursday, I suppose we still had some small hope until we heard that the search was complete," Mr Hennessy said.