Search for crew of Spanish fishing vessel to continue

The search is expected to resume this morning for crew members of the British-registered Spanish fishing vessel which ran on to rocks in north Galway Bay early yesterday morning while running for shelter in a southerly gale.

One of the 13 crew on board the 36 m Arosa, Mr Ricardo Arias Garcia (24), survived after he and his captain were rescued by the Shannon-based Sikorsky helicopter close to the wreckage on the Skerd rocks 13 miles south-east of Slyne Head. The captain, Mr Ramon Pardo Juncal (69), died shortly after arrival by helicopter at University College Hospital Galway.

Four more bodies were recovered by the rescue services in very difficult weather conditions, and seven crewmen were still missing when the search was suspended in worsening weather conditions yesterday evening. Ten of the 13 crew, including the survivor, were from Ponte Vedra in Galicia, north-west Spain, two were from Sao Tome in west Africa and one was from Ghana.

It is expected that Mr Garcia, who was transferred to Merlin Park Hospital in Galway last night, will have to undergo a second ordeal today when he helps to identify the bodies of his fellow crew members.

Mr Garcia (24), from Pontevedra, chose not to wear a lifejacket, had no survival suit and decided to try and cling to the stricken vessel along with six fellow crewmen. The other six who tried to get into liferafts launched from the vessel were swept away within minutes by heavy seas.

Mr Garcia said he was the only crew member without a lifejacket as he feared it might choke him. However, rescue services said yesterday that several of the bodies recovered and taken to shore by the Aran Islands lifeboat did not have lifejackets on them.

Naval Service divers were called in by the Irish Coast Guard yesterday as the search continued with the patrol ship, Le Eithne, acting as on-scene command, working with the Irish Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopters, the Air Corps Dauphin from Finner, Co Donegal, the Aran Islands lifeboat and several fishing vessels.

The ship's captain, Cdr Eugene Ryan, told The Irish Times that weather conditions were too rough to approach the trawler, which was facing south-east and "bow-on" on the rocks.

Southerly winds gusting to force 9 were due to worsen, veering west to north-west last night. The vessel had run up on the western side of Doonguddle, one of the largest of the Skerd rocks, Cdr Ryan said. "We can see its foremast, the top of the bridge and funnel," he reported. "The seas are white out here, and the trawler is already breaking up. It won't last the night," he added.

Speaking to The Irish Times from his hospital bed yesterday , Mr Garcia described how the Milford Haven-registered vessel had decided to head in to Rossaveal due to bad weather. It had been 30 days at sea, and had landed fish in Ardrossan six days ago.

The trawler had been steaming for five hours, and most of the crew took to their bunks while the captain was on the bridge, he said. "At around 4 o'clock in the morning, we felt the ship hit a rock," he said. "We didn't take much notice as we thought it was a heavy wave, but after about a minute the boat began crashing against other rocks. Everyone woke up, the alarm started to sound and we were worried that the boat was going to sink."

Mr Garcia said they tried to send a Pan Pan distress message, while some of the crew began preparing inflatable liferafts. "But it was impossible, because part of the coastline was cliff and rocks," he said.

"Some of the crew threw the liferafts into the water and the rest of us began clinging on to the trawler. There were seven of us. With every wave that came, we had to hold on very tight but some just couldn't. Then I was the only one holding on, and a huge wave came and swept me away, too."

Mr Garcia said he felt he would not survive. "In between the waves I tried to look up, calm down and organise myself. I saw another big wave coming, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

"When that wave had passed, I felt rocks beneath me. I dragged myself up along the rocks, I looked up and I saw the light of the helicopter. I was taken to this hospital where the medical staff have looked after me very well."

The Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation passed a vote of sympathy to the families, relatives and friends of the Spanish, French, Portuguese and Irish fishermen who have lost their lives in recent days. Mr Sean O'Donoghue, chief executive of the KFO, said: "Unfortunate tragedies like these unite all fishing communities in grief".