Ten fishermen, one from Ireland, the rest Spanish, were last night rescued from their sinking trawler 190 miles south of Castletownbere by an RAF helicopter crew. The rescue helicopter had earlier left Cork Airport and arrived at the Sonia Nancy shortly after 4 p.m. A second RAF Sea King helicopter, standing by at Castletownbere, arrived at around 5 p.m. This was precautionary in case the first could not accommodate all 10 fishermen.
The trawler is believed to be registered in the name of Mr Patrick Sheehy, of Baltimore, west Cork. Contacted by The Irish Times last night, Mr Sheehy said: "I am not interested in saying anything about it."
An RAF Nimrod aircraft, which stood by throughout the drama, had earlier dropped two life rafts to the crew, but these were lost in mountainous seas.
Waves were 50 feet high with winds reported to be gusting at 70 m.p.h. and upwards at the scene.
At one time during the day the master of the 30,000 tonne French container vessel, the Fort Descaix, radioed to say he could pick up all the men, but he was unable to bring his ship alongside in the heavy seas.
The incident began at 7.25 a.m. yesterday when the trawler sent out a distress call to say it was taking on water and sinking.
The RAF helicopters left from RAF Chivenor in Cornwall and returned after the rescue to the Isles of Scilly to refuel. They then left for Culdrose in south Cornwall, where the men were to be taken to a local hospital for examination and treatment.
The Sea King helicopter captain, Flight-Lieut Al Potter (32), said he had "never seen anything like the conditions".
"The sea was like 20 feet of mist over the waves because it was blowing so hard, with winds up to 50 knots and waves between 40 and 70 feet high - huge," he said at Culdrose after returning from his mission.
With the fuel load allowing a maximum of just 50 minutes for the rescue, Flight-Lieut Potter hovered the helicopter over the storm-lashed trawler.
The winchman, Flight Sgt Pete Joyce, who would have directed the rescue from the vessel, smashed into the trawler when he was lowered on to the heaving deck and had to be winched back into the aircraft.
"He was pretty dazed at the time, but has recovered," said the helicopter pilot.
The rescue had to go ahead with the winch line lowered time and again to the stricken craft, with co-pilot Flight-Lieut Ian Saunders directing operations by radio via the Irish member of the trawler crew.
The crew was brought up two at a time after getting into the rescue harnesses, with the Irish radio operator translating instructions into Spanish for the others.
"The crew were in a fairly good condition and happy to be on board and departing the ship. None of them needed hospital treatment, but they were being checked out by our medical officer at Culdrose.
"They were all very happy and had coffee and soup by the time we landed," the pilot said.
A coastguard spokesman, Mr Mark Clark, said the Sea King plucked the crew from the deck of the trawler "as it was sinking under their feet".
The 10-hour rescue drama began after the trawler, under tow after engine failure, was at the mercy of the huge seas when the tow rope broke over 200 miles south-west of the Isles of Scilly.
With force 11 gales whipping up 60-foot seas, it was hoped the Fort Descaix would have been able to take off the trawler crew, but that proved impossible.