Search for two men off Wexford coast suspended

The search for two men missing off the Wexford coast has been suspended until tomorrow morning.

The search for two men missing off the Wexford coast has been suspended until tomorrow morning.

A Department of the Marine spokesman said rough seas and poor visibility had hampered today's search.

It is now feared the capsizing of the Rising Sunlobster boat on Tuesday may have claimed the lives of two people on board and a search diver.

One of the two civilian divers, Billy O'Connor, failed to return from a dive to look for the skipper of the capsized vessel yesterday afternoon.

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The other diver lost visual contact during the dive at 3.25pm yesterday with his colleague when he was coming up, just seven metres from the surface.

The two men, who were both experienced divers, managed to confirm that the wreck off the Great Saltee Island was the Rising Sonand that the body missing skipper Patrick Colfer (37) from Slade was not inside.

Diving in the area had been restricted by the Department of the Marine on Wednesday because of wreckage and oil bobbing to the surface.

The sub-aqua team had gone down after the debris stopped surfacing, and the restriction was lifted yesterday morning.

Navy personnel aboard the LE Eimear- which is co-ordinating the search - were awaiting the arrival of specialist diving equipment from Cork when the sub-aqua divers went down.

The coast guard operation today resumed searching south of the Saltee Islands and along the coast between Carnsore Point and Fethard.

The search operation also involved a search and rescue helicopter from Waterford Airport, and the Kilmore Quay lifeboat.

Two of the three-man crew of the Rising Sunwere brought ashore on Tuesday night, but Jimmy Meyler of Ballyhack died later in hospital and his funeral will take place today. Ian Tierney of Kilmore Quay was discharged from hospital yesterday.

Investigators from the Marine Casualty Investigation Board and the Garda were yesterday interviewing Mr Tierney about the loss of the boat.

Meanwhile, local lobstermen expressed concern that no emergency distress signal appears to have been picked up when the boat sank. While the crew apparently did not have time to launch a Mayday signal, the boat's radio should have sent out an automatic signal when the apparatus came into contact with water.

Local fishermen said the men would not have spent so long in the water if a signal had alerted them to the loss of the boat. The loss was noted only after the boat failed to return to Kilmore Quay at 4.30pm on Tuesday. It had been seen by a neighbouring boat at 3.30pm and all appeared well.

However local fishermen and members of the Kilmore Quay lifeboat crew have raised questions as to why the Rising Sun'semergency equipment appears not to have sent any signal.

A spokesman told The Irish Timesthe Rising Sun had carried such equipment, but why it apparently failed to send a distress signal was a mystery.