Two fishermen rescued at Derrynane

TWO fishermen were rescued from the waters off Derrynane on Monday afternoon after their vessel caught fire. The Castletownbere RNLI lifeboat was scambled to the scene at 12.26pm when the men were forced to abandoned the boat.

The lifeboat was tasked by Valentia Coastguard radio to assist in the rescue as the boat started to take in water shortly after the fire started. The two fishermen took to their life-raft and two local boats, the ‘Orchid’ and ‘Stephanie’, stood by to offer assistance.

The lifeboat, under the command of Coxswain Dan Noonan, launched within minutes of the call, arrived at the scene in just over an hour. Other rescue services who attended the emergency included the Shannon-based Rescue Helicopter 115, Derrynane Inshore Rescue Boat, and Ballinskelligs lnshore Rescue.

“Even though the weather was good the operation was quite difficult in so far as the boat was very close to Scarrif Island,” said Paul Stevens, Press Officer with Castletownbere RNLI.

“The boat could not be saved as it was too dangerous to go aboard and put the fire out. The boat eventually sunk after a few hours. The rescue showed the cooperation that exists between the rescue services. This made it all work seamlessly,” he added.

The two fishermen, who were not injured, were transferred from the Ballinskelligs lnshore Rescue boat to the Castletownbere Lifeboat. The men are from Castletownbere and were expected back home on Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Kerry Mountain Rescue Team were called out over the bank holiday weekend when a woman in her 30s needed medical attention after getting into difficulty on Carrauntoohil on Sunday afternoon.