THE Irish Marine Emergency Services will today be asked to organise a search for a 68 ft Spanish fishing vessel missing since mid January with 10 men board.
Relatives of the missing fisher men arrived in Cork at the weekend after two fishing boxes from the vessel, the Manuel, were discovered on the Waterford coast blast Wednesday. The Spanish search was called off on Friday no trace of the vessel was in Spanish or French
Four relatives of the missing men, all from the Basque of Spain, arrived in Cork night and hired a four air plane on Saturday and for use in their search.
They asked the Spanish embassy in Dublin to request the Irish authorities to organise a search. Because the fishing boxes were found on the Irish coast and a life buoy from the vessel turned cup in Plymouth in the south of England on January 18th they believe the Manuel could have drifted into Irish waters in the stormy conditions.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Marine said once it received an official request, it would consider all aspects of the case and decide if a sea search should be undertaken by the Naval Service and Air Corps.
Ms Elisabet Mancisidor, wife of one of the missing men, said they were not ready to accept their relatives were dead. She and her missing husband, Mr Aurelio Perez Centeno (29), have a six month son. Her father, Mr Joaquin Mancisidor, her brother in law and son of the boat owner, Mr Guillermo Perez, and Mr Juan Carlos Martinez, whose brother is missing, are also in Cork.
The missing men come from the fishing town of Pasajes near San Sebastian.
The Manuel had a licence to fish in French waters and left for there on January 3rd. It was last heard from three days later when it was contacted by the crew of another Spanish vessel.
The 10 year old vessel had an EPIRB on board an instrument which would emit signals giving its identity and location. No signal was picked up.