THE TRAWLER Honeydew II, which capsized in January 2007, off the south coast was the victim of treacherous sea conditions, according to a report by the Marine Casualty Investigation Board.
The investigation into the sinking, which claimed the lives of two of its four man crew – skipper Ger Bohan from Kinsale, Co Cork, and crew member Tomasz Jagala from Poland – found severe weather conditions were the main cause.
The vessel, which sank off Ram Head, Co Waterford, within minutes, had been hit by waves possibly 18 metres high. The bodies were never recovered. The impact caused sections of the port bulwark to fail and forced it inward. Large amounts of water flooded into the shelter deck space and the boat sank in minutes.
The report also stated that repairs had been carried out on the vessel, some of which may have only been temporary, leaving the trawler more exposed to the harsh conditions.
The two survivors, Vladimir Kostyr and Viktor Losev from Lithuania, managed to board a life raft and were rescued over 15 hours after the disaster. Although they recalled Mr Bohan transmitting a distress signal, no emergency call was picked up by nearby boats. The radio transmitter had functioned the previous day and the reason for the failure cannot be readily explained.
The boat was found to have complied with safety regulations and standards. The fact that two of the crew survived was noted as extraordinary given the speed at which events unfolded.
Mindful of the trauma experienced by the survivors, the report said accounts by Mr Kostyr and Mr Losev were confused and contrary to the physical evidence of the wreck.
A report on the death of Pavol Juhas, a Slovakian crew member on the Atlantic West, from Co Mayo was also published by the MCIB. The Atlantic Westwas shooting crab pots off north Mayo in July 2007. Mr Juhas had been hired at short notice by skipper John O'Donnell to replace another crew member, although he was not a trained deckhand.
Mr Juhas’s leg became entangled in rope and he was dragged overboard. The crew recovered him quickly and Coast Guards were alerted. Attempts were made to revive him but he was pronounced dead on arrival at Sligo General Hospital.
The report concluded that penalties should be enforced when untrained crew members are employed on fishing vessels.