To my friends

I stood at the peir
and looked to sea
the fleet of boats seeking for you.

RIP
Shane and Colin

I am glad to report that Shane has been found alive..

For those that do not know what has happen again here in my home port of Kilkeel, here is the latest news report from UTV
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Shane Murnaghan, 28, said he was thrown into the water as he checked lobster pots off the County Down coast.

From his hospital bed in the Isle of Man, he described seeing his stricken friend Colin Donnelly seconds before he himself climbed to safety.

He said: "I don`t know what happened. The boat just went and when the life raft went off I swam to it. I saw Colin and he had a life jacket on.

"When I got into the life raft I turned around and Colin was gone."

Mr Murnaghan was speaking to his mother Rita from the Norbles Hospital in Douglas.

He was picked up nine miles south-east of the Isle of Man by a merchant vessel the Moondance after his life raft drifted for about 20 hours from close to his home port of Kilkeel.

Rita Murnaghan said her son`s only thoughts were for his best friend Mr Donnelly, 31, who is still missing, and for Mr Donnelly`s nine-year-old son Jordan.

As air sea rescue teams searched the Co Down coast, the distraught Donnelly family maintained an anxious vigil throughout the day at Kilkeel harbour.

The group included Colin`s ex-partner Sharon Rooney and his father Bernard. His son Jordan, whose 10th birthday is next week, stood forlornly at the quayside peering out to sea.
As light faded, the official search was called off but dozens of Kilkeel fishing boats continued to look for the missing fisherman.

The two men were on their boat the Emerald Dawn which sank six miles from Kilkeel as they fished for crab on Wednesday afternoon. Police divers found the boat in 14 metres of water after locating a lobster pot which had lodged at the bottom of the sea bed.

Sargent Elvin Leech, head of the PSNI underwater search unit, said there was no sign of major damage to the boat.
He added: "It only took one diver to establish it was the Emerald Dawn."

The Marine Accident Investigation Board are expected to launch an inquiry into why the boat sank.

Mr Murnaghan`s tearful father, Henry, said hopes of finding Mr Donnelly were fading fast.

He said: "He was like a son to me. He was never out of the house. He was full of life.

"We thought last night there was no hope for Shane. Although we`re hanging on, it`s fading all the time."

Mr Murnaghan, a marine engineer, had just returned home after working for two years in Nigeria and Ghana. Both he and Mr Donnelly began fishing on the Emerald Dawn two months ago.

Gabriel Greene, who lost three generations of his own family when their boat the Tullagh Nurry Lass sank in February 2002, said he knew the depths of despair the Donnelly family was suffering.

"It`s very hard to put into words the anxiety they are experiencing. They want to hear something quickly and it`s just not happening. All we can do is give them our support."

Mr Greene described Mr Donnelly as a very capable seaman. "He has a skipper ticket and is very, very confident. He has completed a sea survival course so I urge them not to give up hope."

He praised the fishing community of Kilkeel for their support for the two families. "These boys have given up a day`s work to look for them. What other job or trade would do the same thing?" he added.

The Rev William Bingham, minister of Mourne Presbyterian Church in Kilkeel, said there were mixed emotions at the discovery of one of their loved ones.

He said: "There`s a feeling of deep anxiety, everybody`s feeling the heartache, but also a sense of deep gratitude to the guys who have been out all night searching around the coast."

Mr Bingham said there was a real cross-community feeling for the two men, who are members of the local Roman Catholic parish.

He added: "Everybody is out on the boats looking ... the whole community is waiting with bated breath.

He said: "At the moment, the one family feels relief but is also sharing in the burden of the other family. They are in this together right the way through. The pain will be there until both boys are found."

SDLP South Down Assembly member Margaret Ritchie said the news about Mr Murnaghan was "wonderful", adding: "We can only hope and pray that the outcome will be equally happy for the other fisherman.

"The fishing communities of the South Down coast have known too much tragedy over the years. Fishing remains one of the most dangerous occupations of all and we must all do the best to improve safety standards."