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No cover for sunk vessel due to 'act of terrorism'


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#1 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 08:15 AM

Courtesy of the Irish Time On Line @ http://www.irishtime...4248771772.html

No cover for sunk vessel due to 'act of terrorism'

LORNA SIGGINS, Marine Correspondent

Sat, Jun 13, 2009

THE MARINE Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) is unlikely to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sinking of a shellfish boat off Erris Head, Co Mayo, two days ago as it was “not accidental”.

The vessel’s owner, Pat O’Donnell, has been told insurers will not cover the loss as it is defined as an “act of terrorism”. The 12-metre Iona Isle was insured for €60,000.

Green Party TD Ciarán Cuffe has called for a “full investigation into the incidents surrounding the sinking” of the 12-metre Iona Isle.

Mr Cuffe has written to Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern and Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey, requesting Garda and MCIB inquiries. He says Minister for Energy Eamon Ryan, who is responsible for the Corrib gas project, is also aware of his call.

Mr O’Donnell and crewman Martin McDonnell were rescued from a life raft after, they say, the vessel was boarded at about 2am on Thursday off Erris Head by four armed men in diving suits who held them in the wheelhouse.

The vessel sank shortly before 4.30am and a distress signal was picked up by Malin Head Coast Guard. Údarás na Gaeltachta has passed a motion calling for an independent inquiry.

Chief Supt Tony McNamara confirmed yesterday an inquiry was being conducted, as Mr O’Donnell had reported the incident. However, Mr O’Donnell was “not co-operating”, he said.

Mr O’Donnell said he would co-operate through his legal representatives. He said he and his crewman were in shock on Thursday when met at Castlebar General Hospital by four detectives and a uniformed garda who asked them for their clothes.

“I was not able to give them my clothes as what I was wearing was the property of the RNLI lifeboat,” Mr O’Donnell said. “The RNLI provided me with dry clothes at Ballyglass lifeboat station,” he said.

Mr O’Donnell, who runs a shellfish firm in north Mayo and received a State marine award for his part in the 1997 Belderrig cave rescue, has been vocal about the marine impact of the Corrib gas refinery discharge pipe.

Last year he refused to sign up to an agreement between Shell and Erris fishermen to temporarily remove gear to facilitate laying of the offshore pipe. In September 2008, he reported to Belmullet gardaí that his two sons were almost rammed by a Shell contractor vessel.

Shell EP Ireland has “emphatically”rejected “the allegation that people employed on the Corrib gas project were involved in any way in the incident”. Mr O’Donnell said he never accused Shell staff of involvement. He voiced concerns over a month ago about security staff working for Shell at Glengad.

© 2009 The Irish Times


#2 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 08:19 AM

Courtesy of the Irish Independent On Line @ http://www.independe...at-1770980.html


Shell denies plot to sink anti-Corrib man's boat

By Tom Shiel and Brian McDonald
Friday June 12 2009

A fisherman who is vehemently opposed to the Corrib Gas project claimed yesterday that his 40ft trawler was deliberately sunk by men armed with handguns who sneaked aboard the vessel off Erris Head in the early hours of yesterday morning.

Gardai say they are investigating the claims of crab fisherman Patrick O'Donnell.

They are also investigating an incident which occurred at the same time in which up to 14 people in kayaks attempted to approach a Shell-contracted dredger in Glengad Bay.

Shell E&P Ireland denied yesterday that any of its workers were involved in the sinking of the Iona Isle -- registered to Mr O'Donnell's son, Jonathan.

Mr O'Donnell said that he and his crewman Martin McDonnell were at sea, off Erris Head, at around 2am when the Iona Isle was boarded.

He added: "I was in the wheelhouse when four men wearing diving gear . . . came on board. Two of them had handguns. Some of the men went into the engine room where they must have burst a plank. I could feel the boat getting heavy. I knew we were sinking."

Mr O'Donnell said the intruders left in an inflatable rib while he and his colleague abandoned their sinking vessel.

A statement issued by the Erris Community Groups, Pobal Chill Chomain and Pobal Le Cheile, said: "This outrage involved the forced boarding of his fishing boat by masked intruders, the false imprisonment of Pat O'Donnell and his fellow fisherman Martin McDonnell, and the use of force."

In a statement emphatically rejecting any suggestion of involvement by its employees in the sinking of the Iona Isle, Shell E&P Ireland claimed that a number of malicious allegations had been made against the corporation and its security contractors in recent weeks.

Such claims had no basis in fact, said Shell. The statement said Shell was "committed" to the Corrib project, which it described as being of "strategic importance" to Ireland.

- Tom Shiel and Brian McDonald


#3 markh

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 11:50 AM

that is fecking appalling!

Wonder why it's not made national news?  Maybe being suppressed by the government who lets face it are happy to take it up the tradesmens' from US oil companies

Its Piracy and no better than whats going on in the Gulf IMHO

#4 isleseafoods

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 12:39 PM

Quote

that is fecking appalling!

Wonder why it's not made national news?  Maybe being suppressed by the government who lets face it are happy to take it up the tradesmens' from US oil companies

Its Piracy and no better than whats going on in the Gulf IMHO

It is bad crack right enough but I'm no sure the Royal Dutch Shell Group will like being called yanks.

#5 markh

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 09:03 PM

Quote

Quote

that is fecking appalling!

Wonder why it's not made national news?  Maybe being suppressed by the government who lets face it are happy to take it up the tradesmens' from US oil companies

Its Piracy and no better than whats going on in the Gulf IMHO

It is bad crack right enough but I'm no sure the Royal Dutch Shell Group will like being called yanks.

anglo dutch historically, but one of the biggest noises on opec, and majority ownership is with the yanks these days I beleive

#6 3762dazzer

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Posted 13 June 2009 - 10:22 PM

Call me old fashioned but this sort of James Bond nonsense only happens in films, much cheaper and less risky to sabotage the boat in the harbour I would suggest :buck2:
Some risk to send people aboard with guns, if one was used and someone was killed that really would attract the attention of the media and the old bill O0
As for not giving his clothing up, I'm sure the RNLI would have given their permission for the skipper to assist in the police investigation :police:

#7 Guest_Steve Ellwood_*

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Posted 14 June 2009 - 11:23 AM

Some more on this strange story from the Irish Independent On Line @ http://www.independe...te-1773359.html

Independent.ie
Mystery grows over ship sunk in pipeline dispute

By JIM CUSACK
Sunday June 14 2009

THE Mayo anti-gas pipe protester who claimed his trawler was sunk by "mercenaries" working for Shell in the early hours of Thursday was picked up by another boat owned and worked by him and his son, it has emerged.

At around the same time as Pat O'Donnell's ageing trawler Iona Isle was sunk in deep water off Erris Head, a mile out from the landfall for the Corrib Gas pipeline, 20 eco warriors tried to invade the construction site from sea in kayaks.

The Shell to Sea group said on Friday that Mr O'Donnell's boat was boarded by four "masked men" who, they say, "assaulted and held down" Mr O'Donnell and then sunk the boat.

This version of events cannot be substantiated, according to garda sources who are investigating the incident.

Shell to Sea stated: "At 2am this morning [Thursday], Pat O'Donnell's fishing trawler, the Iona Isle, was boarded by four masked men and sunk in Broadhaven Bay, near Erris Head. Mr O'Donnell and crewman Martin McDonnell were assaulted and held down by some of the men, while others went below deck where they proceeded to sink the boat.

"The assaulted men had barely enough time to issue a Mayday call and board a life raft before their boat sank. Another local fishing vessel, the Rachel Mary, picked up the men and brought them to Ballyglass Pier near Belmullet, escorted by the local lifeboat. Both local men have been taken to Castlebar General Hospital, where they are recovering."

The statement did not contain the information that the Rachel Mary is owned and worked by Mr O'Donnell and his son.

Gardai are uncertain about what the two boats were doing in the area about a mile off Erris Head. The spot where the vessel sank is in water about 100 metres deep and it is unlikely that the Marine Casualty Investigation Board, will raise the boat to discover the cause of the sinking as there was no loss of life.

The Shell to Sea protesters' version of events on Thursday morning prompted the Green Party's marine spokesman, Ciaran Cuffe, to call for an inquiry into the incident.

He called for "a full and impartial investigation" into the sinking of the Iona Isle, saying it "clearly raises tensions on all sides in west Mayo".

In an interview with the Irish Times, Pat O'Donnell said that the men who boarded the Iona Isle wore diving suits and spoke with broken accents.

"We were held in the wheelhouse, while two of them went below. They were down there about 20 minutes and then came back up to the wheelhouse for what seemed like over an hour," he said.

"When the engine cut out, they left on a rib [rigid inflatable boat]. I went down below to the engine room and it was flooding. I told Martin to put on his lifejacket, and I got the life-raft off the wheelhouse. I had a hand-held VHF and called Malin Coast Guard, which issued a Mayday. I also called Belmullet garda station to report the sinking," he said.

A spokesman for Shell rejected the claim that any person in any way connected with the company was involved in the incident.

Last year Shell paid €20,000 compensation each to trawler owners in Mayo for the possibility of any disruption to their fishing during the laying of the pipeline to the off-shore drilling rig. They will do so again this year.

The construction of the Corrib pipe line and the processing plant have provided 2,000 jobs in Mayo.




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