Search continues for five crewmen missing from cargo ship
The search is continuing this evening for five men missing after a cargo ship sank in the Irish Sea last night.
Two of the eight Russian crewmen of the Cook Islands-registered Swanland were rescued shortly after the alarm was raised, while one body was recovered today by an Irish Coast Guard boat operating out of Waterford.
Both the Waterford and the Dublin-based Coast Guard helicopters as well as an Irish naval vessel and an Air Corps fixed-wing aircraft have been helping UK Coast Guard authorities in the search for the crewmen, who went into the water 10 miles west of the Lleyn peninsula in north Wales in the early hours of this morning.
The 81-metre cargo carrier sank after being hit by an “enormous wave.”
Rescuers said tonight that a beached lifeboat could hold survivors.
An inaccessible liferaft found near Bardsey Island, off the Lleyn peninsula, may now contain the best hope of finding survivors.
Two attempts earlier today to make certain that nobody was inside the liferaft’s protected enclosure were unsuccessful.
A crew member from a Sea King rescue helicopter was winched to within feet of the liferaft but conditions made it impossible to get closer.
An Abersoch inshore lifeboat crew also attempted to access the raft, beached among dangerous rocks, but was also forced to give up.
“The rescue helicopter hovered over the raft and a man was winched down but could not illicit a response,” a spokesman for Holyhead coastguard said.
“With a helicopter hovering 50ft above them, and the noise it must have made, it is unlikely that anyone was there.
“But you never know. There is always a chance that somebody might be inside.”
He added that wardens on the island had indicated that it was now possible to access the area on foot to check on the liferaft.
He said that once night fell a decision on the scale of any continuing operation would be taken.
Gale force winds battered the Irish Sea during the early hours of the morning and the Coastguard believe this could have caused the incident.
Holyhead Coastguard watch manager Ray Carson said: “The two men recovered from the water were brought here before going to the hospital. I think they are OK and are just suffering from shock.
“In broken English and through drawing a diagram, the second officer told us the ship was hit by an enormous wave. It rolled the ship and it broke its back. He said this led to a catastrophic failure of the vessel.”
