THE BEREAVED families of the two Donegal brothers who died on Friday in a fishing tragedy off Inishowen Head have criticised plans to close Malin Head Coast Guard marine rescue centre.
Retired fishermen Danny (70) and Francis (69) McDaid died when their 29ft half-decker Strath Marie got into trouble as they collected lobster pots.
The men's brothers and sisters, wives and children made an impassioned appeal yesterday to the Government not to close Malin Head Coast Guard station.
No strangers to sea tragedy over the years, they had previously lost relatives and friends in the Boy Shaun, Catwalk and Carrickatine fishing tragedies.
Mickey McDaid, who raised the alarm when his brothers failed to return to Bunagee harbour, Culdaff, said: "At 4.55pm I dialled 999 and was put through to Malin Head Coast Guard. In two minutes they were on the ball and the search was well under way in no time.
"I didn't have to explain where Danny and Francis were. I had to give them no readings - they knew exactly where I was talking about. What hope would I have had if I had to ring a crowd down in Shannon or somewhere else?" he asked. "If Malin Head Coast Guard wasn't there, we might never have found Danny and Francis."
The families heard first-hand the quality and professionalism of the search for the two fishermen. Those who were at home in the row of McDaid houses in Glengad, including Danny's wife Ellen and Francis's wife Betty, were listening to their VHF radios and heard all the communications.
The family is also highly critical that Danny and Francis were forced to fish out of Bunagee harbour near Culdaff instead of their local pier, Portaleen, Glengad, because the crane at Portaleen has been lying broken for weeks.
They say this lost them vital hours in the subsequent search for the missing men.
"If they had left from Portaleen as they should have, we would have noticed them missing a lot quicker," said Mickey McDaid. "If they were using the home port we would have expected them back around 1pm but because they had to use Bunagee that day, we thought that's what was holding them up."