The skipper of a fishing vessel has spoken of his devastation at the loss of two crew members who died when their car plunged off a pier in Co Galway on Sunday night.
The two men, a Latvian and a Lithuanian, drowned when their 13-year-old Ford Mondeo went into the water at Rossaveal on Sunday night. The car was bought for just €130 the previous day, it has emerged.
A third man, who is from Lithuania, managed to escape from the car through the sunroof and was taken from the freezing water. He was last night recovering at University College Hospital Galway.
The two men who died and the man who survived were crew members on board the Krystal Patrick, an Achill-based fishing trawler. Owner Brendan O'Malley said the younger of the crew members, who was Latvian and 34, had worked with him for 18 months. The other, aged 38, had been with him a year, while the survivor (42) was with him seven months.
He said the men who died were divorced and the youngest one had a daughter. All three lived in a house in Achill.
"They weren't just a run-of-the-mill crew, one of them was a very good friend of mine. I'm only newly-married and my wife and I are devastated by the news," he said. "They were decent fellows. They were very genuine. They were knotted to the industry. They wouldn't see anybody stuck.
"It was like a second chance for them living here. They weren't in fishing for the money. They were in because they loved it. It's very hard to get Irish people to do it." Mr O'Malley said they had planned to spend the day mending nets and weren't planning to go to sea. He said neither man had plans to go home for Christmas. "I will do my utmost financially to get them there as fast as possible," he said.
Another skipper, Tómas Connelly, the captain of the Ocean Harvester, said the men had worked with him and other crews in Kilkeel, Howth and Achill where they were based.
"They were very obliging and very experienced lads. If they came into the harbour, they'd be the first to take a rope off you. All the fishermen are down about this being so close to Christmas. It was an awful shock for everybody this morning."
Séan Griffin, the general manager of Galway and Aran Fishermen's Co-op Society, said it was the second tragedy to affect eastern European workers, who now form the majority of crews working out of Rossaveal.
In February, a Latvian man, who worked there, was knocked down and killed near the port, while the local community was also mourning a local fisherman who died suddenly last month. "It is extremely sad. We had a funeral last week of a young skipper from one of the islands who died after a very short illness. His funeral was held last week and brought the whole fishing community together. This is another devastating blow."
The three men had been socialising in Carraroe earlier on Sunday. The driver and front-seat passenger were unable to escape from the car, which sank in about 10 metres of water. The bodies were taken from the vehicle at about 3.30am, while the car was raised just before 5am.
Gardaí are anxious to speak to anyone who saw the vehicle being driven in the pier area at Rossaveal. They are also examining CCTV footage from commercial buildings in the area.
Supt Noel Kelly, who is heading up the investigation, said they were anxious to speak to witnesses, including the survivor, while they were also examining the possibility that the vehicle was defective.
"It is one of the possibilities that we have to look at. The car was 13-years-old and it is something that can't be ruled out. The car will be subject to a full technical examination.
"As far as I know, this car was only purchased on Saturday and we'll be looking at all aspects to try to find out the history of the car to see if anything could be wrong.
"This is a terrible tragedy for two families," added Supt Kelly, who asked anyone with information to contact gardaí at Salthill on 091-514720.
A postmortem examination was carried out at University College Hospital Galway last night.