A Naval Service dive team has obtained design drawings of the sunken trawler Pere Charles and is devising a strategy to gain access to the vessel and search for the bodies of its missing crew as soon as there is a reasonable break in the bad weather.
According to Lieut Cdr Terry Ward of the Naval Service, the dive teams are still hoping to get down to the Pere Charles next week and enter the vessel to clear away debris and search for the bodies of its five fishermen.
Dive teams under Lieut Tony O'Regan reached the vessel, which is lying on its starboard side in 35 metres of water two miles off Hook Head, last Tuesday but were unable to gain access to the vessel through the main wheelhouse door because it was crushed closed.
Skipper Tom Hennessy, his uncle Pat Hennessy, Billy O'Connor, Pat Coady and Andriy Dyrin from Ukraine were all lost when the Pere Charles sank while on its way back to port at Dunmore East in Co Waterford at about 6pm on January 10th.
According to local fishing sources in Dunmore East, the crew should have been below deck in the galley when the vessel went down as they had finished fishing. Because it sank so quickly, it is hoped that their bodies may still be in the galley area or in the wheelhouse.
The dive teams have been studying plans of the vessel and viewing video footage shot last Tuesday.
They have been working on a strategy to access the boat through a hatch leading to the galley to search for the bodies.
According to Lieut Cdr Ward, their recovery is likely to be a lengthy operation and the families of the men have been briefed that the divers will need two to three days of continuous good weather to try and carry out the recovery.
He said divers had the opportunity to break open a window during Tuesday's dive but they decided against doing so as they did not think they would have enough time to get out any bodies, while breaking a window would run the risk of bodies being washed away.
Lieut Cdr Ward said the divers had equipped themselves with bolting guns to help them break open the reinforced glass of the window at the back of the wheelhouse if necessary, but their preferred route of access to the galley remained a hatch.
However, they would have to be careful as the boat's catch of 50 tonnes of herring would ghave started to decay and could give off noxious gases which had accumulated below deck.
The divers had been in touch with the Marine Institute, Lieut Ward said, on what precautions to take.
The dive teams had also acquired a mini remote operated vehicle on loan from Irish Lights which they would use as a back-up to send in and film the interior of the boat if they had difficulty gaining entry themselves.
While it was initially hoped the weather would improve sufficiently by Sunday to allow dive teams to return to the Pere Charles, it now looks as though it will be the middle of next week before divers can go back down.
Meanwhile, an appeal fund was launched in Waterford yesterday for the families of the five fishermen lost after the sinking .
Donations can be made to the Dunmore East Trawler Tragedy Appeal by bank transfer to account number 12200048 (sort code 93-44-02) at AIB Bank, Ardkeen, Waterford.
In Waterford and Wexford yesterday, a small team of searchers drawn from Irish Coast Guard Cliff and Coastal Rescue teams, carried out a shoreline search for Ger Bohan and Tomasz Jagla, who have been missing since their boat the Honeydew II went down off Mine Head on January 11th.
