Pere Charles To Be Salvaged

A second salvage operation to raise a fishing vessel lost off the Irish coast is due to go ahead after an agreement was reached on the plans to salvage the trawler.

Experts are trying to recover the Pere Charles, which sank off the Wexford coast earlier this year. Five fishermen, including a Ukrainian man, lost their lives when the trawler sunk in stormy weather off Hook Head in January.

Another vessel, the Maggie B - which sunk last year with the loss of two lives - was successfully retrieved yesterday.

The Pere Charles was lying upside-down on the seabed and the Irish Coastguard had originally proposed plans to turn the vessel on its side before it was brought to the surface in order to ensure that the contents of the trawler remained intact.

However, salvage contractor IDC then said that it wished to raise the vessel upside-down.

It is understood that the salvage operation will now continue as originally planned, following discussions between the Irish Coastguard and IDC.

(KMcA)