THREE FISHERMEN WERE rescued from a sinking trawler in storm force conditions off the coast of Cork last night.
The 20 foot vessel hit rocks at Moneypoint, near the entrance to Kinsale harbour.
Kinsale RNLI was launched at 6.10pm and arrived on scene less than five minutes later. The volunteer lifeboat crew dropped anchor and veered down, getting within feet of the stricken boat.
The three Portuguese fishermen had to enter the water individually and swim to the RNLI lifeboat where they were pulled to safety.
The men were brought to Kinsale RNLI station where they were shaken by their ordeal but uninjured.
They lost all their personal belongings during the incident and RNLI volunteers issued an appeal to the local community in Kinsale for clothing and shoes for the men.
The station has also received several offers of accommodation for the fishermen.
Kinsale RNLI Helm Nick Searls said, “Our priority was to get the crew safely off the trawler, which was complicated by the breaking waves coming over the top of the boat.
We needed to manoeuvre the lifeboat in as close as possible to the stricken trawler so that the three fishermen could individually jump into the water to be recovered immediately by the lifeboat crew.
“The fishermen were wearing lifejackets and the operation to recover all three of them onto the lifeboat was successful.”
The RNLI lifeboat also returned to the scene to monitor the vessel and to ensure the safety of members of the public who lined the shore to watch the incident unfold.
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