A German registered trawler, which yesterday got badly damaged when it was caught in stormy seas some 320km off the Irish coast, has sunk.
The Irish Coast Guard received a report that the German registered Ortegal Uno had been swamped by a huge wave more than 300km due west of Shannon at about 9am yesterday and that she was listing to port.
The skipper of the trawler decided to abandon ship and all 17 members of the Spanish crew were successfully evacuated to a sister ship, Ortegal 3 , which had come to the stricken trawler's assistance.
The Naval Service dispatched the LE Aoife to monitor the trawler and was due to mae an assesment of the vessel's condition today. However, the vessel sank at about 11pm last night.