Ocean rowers rescued off Irish coast

TWO ocean rowers have been rescued from their boat after it capsized 165 miles off the Irish coast.

Brian Conville (25) from Dublin and Canadian Joseph Gagnon (20) were found clinging on for life in the Atlantic Ocean after their upturned boat failed to right itself.

The pair were winched to safety by an Irish Coast Guard helicopter crew yesterday.

Mr Gagnon’s mother Claire Martin had just flown in to Dublin from Canada when a phone call came through that a rescue mission was under way.

The families of the two rowers came together and waited for about two hours to hear whether their sons had been rescued.

“It’s hard to tell but the information we have is that they are okay. They have hypothermia but they are in the heat now,” Ms Martin said.

The pair were on course to enter the record books for being the youngest pair to complete the voyage from Canada to Ireland.

The rowers left St John’s, Newfoundland, at midday on June 13.

A spokeswoman for the Ocean Rowing Society said the most important thing was that the rowers had been found, but added: “It is such a shame really, only 160 or so miles from Ireland”.