OCEAN PIONEER

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Trawler disabled off Kerry coast

The "Ocean Pioneer" sent a distress signal 150k m off the Kerry coast in the afternoon of March 28, 2018. Watch officers at the Irish Coast Guard’s marine rescue sub centre on Valentia Island mounted and coordinated the search effort. The last known location of the vessel was around 80 nautical miles west of Valentia Island in Kerry. The Shannon-based Irish Coast Guard, Rescue 115, was requested to proceed to the last known location of the emergency signal amid fears the vessel had sunk.The Rescue 117 from Waterford was also tasked to provide communications top-cover. It was found out that the trawler had gone adrift without power or any means of communication. The crew intentionally activated the trawler’s EPIRB device in an effort to alert the Coast Guard to their emergency. The Shannon-based crew reached the scene and quickly located the fishing vessel. Rescuers established the vessel was afloat and the crew of seven was unharmed. With night falling, the Irish Navy vessel "LÉ William Butler Yeats" was deployed to remain with the stricken trawler overnight. Without any lighting to indicate its position, other ships were at risk of colliding with the vessel. The tug „Ocean Challenger“ (IMO-No.: 9085209), was also dispatched from Castletownbere late in the night and made its way to assist the trawler. It reached the vessel in the run of the day and towed the trawler to Castletownbere on March 29 at 11 a.m.

Major rescue operation for trawler

A major rescue operation was launched on June 26, 2017, when the "Ocean Pioneer - FR 928" began taking on water more than 40 miles off the coast of Fraserburgh. All five crew members of the vessel desperately worked to pump water out of the vessel while a Coastguard helicopter raced to assist from Inverness. The Fraserburgh’s volunteer lifeboat "Willie and May Gall" was also alerted and launched shortly after the distress signal was received from the trawler around 11 a.m. Three other fishing vessels in the vicinity, around 40 miles east of the port, were standing by during the rescue operation. The helicopter flew to Aberdeen to refuel and was stood down at around 3 p.m. as the crew of the RNLI boat began towing the stricken trawler back to its home port. None of the five crew suffered any injuries, but they continued to pump seawater out of the trawler during the slow trip back to harbour. They were maintaining water, the leak was not plugged. The "Ocean Pioneer" was scheduled to return to Fraserburgh late at night.