FOUR PEOPLE HAVE been rescued off the coast of Wexford after their yacht got into difficulty and subsequently sank. 

A RNLI volunteer crew were requested to launch their all-weather Tamar class lifeboat Killarney by the Irish Coast Guard at 2.44am to assess the situation after the vessel sustained a damaged rudder 50 miles south of Kilmore Quay.  

The lifeboat, under Coxswain Eugene Kehoe with four crew members, immediately launched and made its way to the scene. 

The yacht had been on passage from Dublin to Vigo in Spain and had left Kilmore Quay yesterday afternoon. 

On their way to the scene, the lifeboat crew were updated that the yacht’s crew had made the decision to turn back and slowly make their way to Kilmore Quay. 

Arriving at the location at 5.30am, the lifeboat crew checked that all onboard the yacht were safe and well before assessing the situation. 

A decision was made to establish a towline and return the vessel to the nearest port which was Kilmore Quay. 

As the yacht began to take on water, the lifeboat crew proceeded to place a salvage pump on the vessel, but such was the speed at which the vessel was taking on water, it was not enough to deal with the situation. 

A second salvage pump was requested by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 117 from Waterford which was also tasked to the scene. 

However, it was decided at this stage to remove the four people from the yacht and transfer them safely onto the RNLI lifeboat. 

The yacht subsequently sank. 

The lifeboat brought the casualties safely back to Kilmore Quay where they arrived at approximately 11am. 

“It’s always sad when a vessel is lost at sea but thankfully the crew onboard the yacht was safely rescued and are now back on shore,” Kilmore Quay lifeboat operations manager John Grace said. 

“The casualties did the right thing in raising the alarm when they encountered problems in the early hours of this morning which helped to prevent the situation from becoming much worse,” Grace said. 

“Despite the best efforts of everyone on scene, the vessel took on a lot of water. Our priority then was to ensure that the casualties were taken off the yacht and transferred safely onto the lifeboat,” he said. 

“We would like to wish the casualties well following this ordeal this morning and we would like to commend our volunteers, who despite the early call and darkness of night did not hesitate to respond.”