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An operation by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to assist a 4,000 ton cargo ship that lost power off the Wexford coast yesterday will resume later this morning.
The boat must be taken to Waterford once the fog has cleared.
The crews of the RNLI lifeboats from Dunmore East, Kilmore Quay and Rosslare Harbor launched yesterday following reports that the cargo ship, the , was in danger of hitting rocks south of Hook Head in Wexford.
The freighter is said to have a crew of nine on board and was carrying coal when it ran out of power. Later it was half a nautical mile from hitting the coast.
The RNLI received a call for help from the Irish Coast Guard in Dublin around 3pm yesterday, at which point the lifeboats were dispatched.
A Coast Guard helicopter was also dispatched from Waterford.
The RNLI says its crews had to fight the force of eight winds and twenty-foot-high waves to reach the.
The three lifeboat crews safely towed the ship for some time, before handing it over to a larger tugboat around 5.40pm yesterday.
the It was brought into Waterford Harbor in the early hours of this morning when the lifeboat crews were finally removed.
Waterford Harbor Master Darren Doyle confirmed that the final leg of the operation would resume this morning, once the fog has cleared.
Rosslare RNLI lifeboat operations manager David Maloney praised the work of the lifeboat crews.
He said: “If it weren’t for the work of the three lifeboat crews in eight force conditions, I fear the ship would have hit the rocks and there could have been a loss of life.”
“The lifeboat crews were out for over 12 hours on a call that involved a lot of skill and concentration and I am tremendously proud of the three lifeboat crews involved.
“Fortunately we did not have a tragedy today,” he added.
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