THE SEARCH:THE FAMILIES of five men missing when their fishing vessel sank near Glandore Harbour in west Cork will again gather on the pier at Union Hall today after heavy seas yesterday prevented divers from searching the wreck.
Naval Service divers had hoped to get down to the French-built Tit Bonhommenear Adam Island at the entrance to Glandore Harbour yesterday afternoon but two-metre swells driven by southeasterly winds made it unsafe.
The Naval Service personnel and Garda divers will try again today to search the 21-metre steel-hulled trawler listing to port and lying in up to 12 metres of water, in the hope the bodies of five missing crew will be found on board.
Yesterday, relatives of skipper Michael Hayes (52) and crew Kevin Kershaw (21), Said Mohammed (23), Wael Mohammed (35) and Attea Ahmed Shaban (26) gathered on the pier at Union Hall as they anxiously waited news of the search.
They were joined by the sole survivor, father-of-three Abdul Mohammed (43), who, upon discharge from Cork University Hospital yesterday morning, travelled to Union Hall to meet the families of the missing men.
Gardaí spoke with Abdul Mohammed, who had just come up from below-deck to join his brother Said Mohammed and skipper Michael Hayes in the wheelhouse at approximately 5.45am on Sunday as the vessel was nearing home.
It was returning from a three-day fishing trip and Mr Hayes had given his customary instruction to be woken when three miles from Glandore as the channel into the harbour can be notoriously tricky to negotiate.
It is understood that Said Mohammed and Mr Hayes were in the wheelhouse when the boat went on to rocks on the southern side of Adam Island and a huge wave of water swept through the wheelhouse.Searchers hoped the wooden wheelhouse had remained substantially intact and the bodies of Mr Hayes and Said Mohammed were still in it, while they also hoped the bodies of the other three were in the bunk area.
Yesterday, the LÉ Niamhremained moored near the mouth of the harbour to co-ordinate the surface sea search with the RNLI Lifeboats from Baltimore and Courtmacsherry as well as the Irish Coast Guard helicopters from Shannon and Waterford. They were joined by over a dozen local trawlers from Union Hall.
About 80 volunteers from the Irish Coast Guard and West Cork Civil Defence searched the shoreline.Paddy Kershaw spoke of his son Kevin’s excitement at going to sea for the first time and enthusiasm for becoming a fisherman as he revealed how he sent him a text on Friday as he left port.
“The message was ‘Dad, Ring me, quick’ but it was more of an excited message than a troubled message – he was a diamond, he shone like a bright light. He had that shine about him and all the people here in Clonakilty and back in Dublin loved him.”