A teenage BOY was still missing last night despite a massive air and sea search after his father's cargo boat sank earlier, in good weather conditions, off the coast of Co Mayo.
The boy's father, Mr Tony Lavelle, a former publican in his 50s from Main Street, Bel mullet, was taken from the water at 1.14 p.m. after his vessel, which had been transporting sheep to Inishkea North island, foundered.
Mr Lavelle was taken aboard a local fishing vessel before being airlifted by Air Corps helicopter to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar. His condition in the hospital's intensive care unit last night was said to be "critical but stable".
Ballyglass lifeboat and a Naval Service fisheries protection vessel, the LE Ciara, joined a flotilla of local boats in the search for Mr Lavelle's 14-yearold son, Anthony.
The search was stood down at 8.30 p.m. last night when thick fog enveloped the area. Lt-Cdr Martin McGrath, of the LE Ciara, said that it would resume at 6.30 a.m. today. Naval Service divers would also assist in the search.
The father and son had been ferrying a consignment of sheep from Frenchport on the mainland to Inishkea North, about five miles away, when an unexplained emergency occurred.
The alert was raised at 12.29 p.m. when a local fisherman saw some sheep on Duffer rock, which is among a group of rocks about halfway between the mainland and the Inishkeas. He also reported dead sheep in the water and an oil slick.
A fishing vessel, the St The- resa, spotted Mr Lavelle clinging to an oar at 1.14 p.m. and took him on board. He was reported to be unconscious when rescued.
His son, a pupil at St Brendan's College, Belmullet, had been clinging to a five-gallon plastic container and was with his father until about five minutes before Mr Lavelle was picked up.
The container was retrieved last night by the Ciara, but there was no sign of the boy.
Lt-Cdr McGrath told The Irish Times that wreckage of the vessel had been found in about 30 feet of water close to Duffer rock, over a mile from where Mr Lavelle was rescued.
Local divers searched the vessel and found the bodies of several sheep in the forward area.
Lt-Cdr McGrath said that a northerly drift had carried father and son a considerable distance and had probably hampered their attempts to swim ashore. Neither was wearing a lifejacket.
The Ciara continued to co-ordinate the search until it was called off for the night. Assistance was given by the Ballyglass lifeboat, the Sikorsky medium-range helicopter from Shannon, a North-Western Regional Fisheries Board vessel and up to 30 local vessels.
Mr Lavelle was the owner of the Mullet Bar in Belmullet, but recently sold the licence and purchased the boat involved in yesterday's emergency.
This is the second tragedy to hit the area in eight days. On Thursday of last week, Niall (5) and Tish Murphy (15) were drowned when they got into difficulties while playing with an inflatable flotation board in the sea at Tra Mor close to their home.