A MAJOR RESCUE operation has been underway since early this morning as a lifeboat crew, navy and Coast Guard battled to fight a fire on board a trawler.
Sources have said the alarm was raised at 1.30am this morning when the Coast Guard station in Valentia, Co Kerry received a distress signal from the Spanish vessel the Armaven Tres.
A blaze had broken out in the engine room and they requested urgent help as they had lost power and were drifting in the Atlantic.
The Valentia RNLI lifeboat was dispatched, as was a Coast Guard helicopter and the LÉ James Joyce also assisted.
The Valentia crew remained at the scene, some 40 nautical miles off the Kerry coast for the day.
The rescue operation lasted for 15 hours with the blaze successfully fought and the trawler is now in the tow of the Nomad, a seagoing tugboat.
One crew member aboard the trawler received treatment for smoke inhalation.
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