UPDATE : Coastguard monitoring a fishing vessel which is taking on water and on fire off the Mizen Head after crew evacuated

UPDATE 2:15pm The vessel has sunk in the position where it first got into difficulty.

EARLIER: A major air-sea rescue operation swung into action off the Cork coast this morning after a fishing vessel began taking on water before catching fire and forcing the evacuation of the crew

The vessel with a crew of 11 on board was fishing 60 miles south west off the Mizen Head when it got into difficulty before 9am this morning

Valentia Coastguard were alerted and they dispatched a rescue helicopter from Shannon to the scene while a second helicopter from Dublin was put on standby at Cork Airport
An Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft – a CASA – also responded along with the naval ship the LE Samuel Beckett

The crew of 11 were forced to abandon the vessel as the trawler kept taking on water and lost propulsion
They were safely picked up by another fishing vessel after they had evacuated and it’s expected that they will be transported to Castletownbere
No injuries have been reported

Coastguard Gerard O’Flynn told RedFM News that the operation has now moved from a search and rescue to one of monitoring the casualty vessel which remains on fire and is possibly sinking

“Shortly after abandoning the  vessel, the vessel was reportedly on fire.  We are monitoring that situation at the moment the CASA ( Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft) is on scene and we hope the naval ship will remain on scene. So that’s the current situation, but the fire didn’t break out until after they had abandoned the vessel. So fortunately no injuries were reported”