THREE FISHERMEN were rescued yesterday when their vessel sank two kilometres off Co Donegal.
The 51ft steel-hulled Shaun Shaun started shipping water mysteriously as it was hauling in herring along with its partner vessel, the Rachel D.
The crew of the Shaun Shaun - owner/skipper Hughie Moore, his brother Páidín and Hughie's 30-year-old son Paul - were taken on board the Rachel D as their own fishing boat sank off Drumanoo Head outside Killybegs harbour, Co Donegal.
The two vessels, which regularly fish as a pair, were believed to have been shifting the catch from one boat to the other when the Shaun Shaun got into difficulties.
Nobody was injured or required hospital treatment.
The survivors were taken to Killybegs by the Rachel D. Later at his Killybegs home Páidín Moore was reluctant to talk about the incident, saying only: "It happened quite quickly."
The Coast Guard at Malin Head had received a mayday call from the Rachel D at 6.25am but before any rescue vessels could be sent to the scene the Shaun Shaun crew had been pulled aboard their sister trawler.
A Malin Head spokesman said the sea was "quite calm" at the time of the sinking.