Kilkeel fishermen have appealed to the Royal Navy to join the search for a missing fishing boat after the coastguard called off its official search operation on Saturday.
Three generations of a family of Co Down fishermen, 54-year-old Mr Michael Greene, his 32-year-old son and eight-year-old grandson, both also named Michael, were on board the Tullaghmurry Lass as she put to sea in the early hours of Thursday. The alarm was raised at the Belfast Coastguard when the vessel failed to return by 8 p.m. on Thursday.
A massive air and sea rescue operation involving two helicopters and up to 25 boats from the Kilkeel fleet continued throughout Friday but failed to find the vessel which was on one of its last expeditions before being decommissioned. Its mysterious disappearance in calm seas and good conditions is now widely thought to have been the result of a collision with another vessel.
A spokesman for the local fishermen, who were continuing their own search operation over the weekend, Mr Alan McCulla, yesterday said the Royal Navy's aid was desperately needed.
"What we desperately need is the capability that the Royal Navy have in order to come in with search facilities like underwater, remotely operated vehicles. That is what is needed at this moment in time before the weather possibly breaks at the start of the week. Urgency is of the utmost priority here," he added.
The elder Mr Greene's brother, Gabriel, said the family was starting to accept that the three were dead. "It's so hard to deal with that the wee lad has just gone through his mid-term break. His life was just to go out in the boat. All he wanted in his future life was to go to sea. For three to go in one go is totally devastating."
The family is no stranger to tragedy. Fifteen years ago, a brother of Mr Greene snr, Hugo, drowned in Kilkeel harbour. A crew member of Kilkeel Lifeboat, Mr Alan McVeigh, said the search operation had been extremely difficult for the close-knit community.
"Initially you hoped that maybe something had gone wrong and the vessel had come into some sort of difficulty and got stranded somewhere. But as time wore on and the more vessels became involved and there was nothing found, it became more sombre.
"It's hard for the crews and the people out searching as well because most of the people know who the people were."
The North's Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ms Bríd Rodgers, said her officials would do all they could to find out what caused the tragedy.
"My heart goes out to the Greene family for their tragic loss. My officials will continue to provide whatever help they can in the circumstances. I have asked to be kept fully informed about enquiries into how this terrible tragedy occurred," she said.