The Wicklow RNLI crew rescued four fishermen from a French fishing trawler this morning.
The volunteer lifeboat crew got the call from the Irish Coastguard at 3.15am to go to the aid of a 26m, 120 tonne French fishing trawler, the Bara An Aod, which had suffered engine failure 3kms east of Wicklow Head.
There was a strong south-easterly force nine gale with torrential rain and a three to four metre breaking swell at the time.
The lifeboat, Annie Blaker, located the trawler at 3.55am and subsequently towed the stricken vessel safely back to Wicklow Harbour by 5am.
Tommy Dover, Wicklow RNLI Volunteer Lifeboat Press Officer said: “The crew responded very quickly to the Mayday call and had the lifeboat launched within 10 minutes of being alerted.
“It was such a bad night but the experienced crew confident in the lifeboat’s ability to meet the conditions, skilfully responded and were thankful and delighted to be able to assist the four crew members and their vessel safely to shore this morning.”