Fishing trawler crew rescued off the coast of Co Dublin

The crew of a fishing trawler has been rescued from the Irish Sea after the boat got into difficulty southeast of Skerries, Co Dublin.

The trawler lost its steering and was unable to manoeuvre and sent out a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The Howth Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) all-weather vessel was launched and located the stricken trawler.

The volunteer lifeboat crew took the vessel in tow and brought it to the safety of Skerries harbour.

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The five-man crew of the fishing vessel were in good spirits despite the mechanical failure.

The Howth Lifeboat and volunteer crew returned to Howth station and stood down at 5.45am.

Howth RNLI lifeboat coxswain Fred Connolly said: "Our volunteer lifeboat crew are always ready to respond to a call for help even in the early hours and we train for situations just like this. We were delighted to be able to quickly locate the fishing vessel, commence the tow and bring the vessel safely back to Skerries."