Father and son die in sea tragedy

The sea was too rough for the lifeboat to launch

A father and son have died after falling from a fishing boat off the Irish coast.

The pair were thrown from the small boat in heavy seas in Donegal Bay.

The Irish Coastguard rescued the pair from the sea at about 1330 GMT on Monday and they were taken to Sligo General Hospital where they later died.

They said a search and rescue operation was launched for the father and son off Donegal at about 1230 GMT after a passer-by saw a flare.

Officers in Malin Head dispatched the helicopter from Sligo and contacted lifeboat crews in Killibegs and Bundoran but they could not launch due to the weather.

"The weather was too poor for those two crews to launch, the winds were up to gale force," a Coastguard spokesman said.

A helicopter was on the scene within a half an hour and had found the men and winched them on board by 1330 GMT.

Both were suffering from severe hypothermia.

They had left Killibegs harbour in a 20ft open deck lobster boat to check on pots in the bay.

A Coastguard spokesman said conditions at sea were difficult.

"The winds were up to gale force west to north-west and were gusting up to force six and seven," he said.

"There were also fairly high seas and a moderate swell."

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, two fishermen died after their car plunged off a pier in County Galway. A third man managed to escape from the vehicle.

The men are believed to be from Lithuania. Their car fell into the sea at Ros an Mhil harbour, County Galway, on Sunday night at about 2200 BST.

It is understood that they bought the second-hand car at the weekend and were driving it on the pier when the accident happened.

The men were members of the crew of a fishing boat operating out of Rossaveal - the harbour for the Aran Islands.

The car went over a low protective barrier and plunged into about 10 metres of water.

Sunroof escape

The man who escaped was a back seat passenger and managed to escape through the sun roof and was able to swim to safety. He is said to be deeply traumatised by the accident.

The alarm was raised, but the two men, who were trapped inside the submerged car, died before a rescue attempt could be made.

Garda sub-aqua divers arrived at the scene at 0300 GMT and recovered their bodies.

They have been taken to University College Hospital in Galway where post mortem examinations will be carried out.

The car was also raised from the seabed. Irish police are now trying to establish the sequence of events that led to the tragedy.