Although it is not known exactly what happened to the trawler in the minutes before 6.30pm on Wednesday when its crew raised an alarm, it is thought that the crew were in the vessel's galley and not wearing life jackets when disaster struck.

The crew had been out fishing for herring and were on their way back to dock in Dunmore East harbour with a full load when the vessel sank.

A local fisherman, who knew all the crew members well and had previously worked on the Pere Charles, told the Sunday Tribune last night: "As no mayday alert was issued from the trawler it looks like it was hit with a freak wave. I would say that the crew were all in the galley relaxing after a tough day's fishing and they would have had their life jackets off.

"They would have all been wearing life jackets while working up on board and would have just taken them off in the galley on the way back to the harbour. When they got closer to harbour they would have come back up on deck and put on their life jackets. That is common practice."

Meanwhile, as the efforts of gardaí and navy diving units to dive down to the wreck were hampered by hazardous sea conditions yesterday, a member of the garda water unit explained the difficult task ahead. "Even when we get down to the wreck it is going to be a very difficult operation to try and retrieve the bodies - if they are still in it, " he said.

"Diving down to sunken trawlers is one of the most difficult and dangerous parts of our work because of all the nets and ropes that are attached to a trawler.

"Sometimes trawlers sink down with their nets out making it dangerous for us as we can get caught in them." The garda outlined that it is often "pitch dark" when the divers get to a wreck and this makes it difficult to see the nets.

Minister of state with responsibility for the marine, Pat Gallagher, yesterday expressed concern that there was no emergency message emitted by the Honey Dew II when it went missing. There is no indication as to whether this crucial item of safety equipment was faulty, not switched on, or may even not have been on board.

The Epirb (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacons) device is mandatory on all boats but operate either manually or automatically. In the case of the Pere Charles, an automatic emergency signal was emitted immediately by its Epirb machine but when the second vessel got into trouble the authorities were not informed until the families raised the alarm. "I do not want to comment in advance of any investigation by the marine casualty investigation board but this is something that is of concern, " Gallagher told the Sunday Tribune. Gallagher added that officials from the department have travelled to Poole in England to examine the operation of the so-called man overboard (MOB) system, an electronic tracking system that speeds the recovery of persons who have gone into the sea in rescue situations.

Once both trawlers have been recovered, the Department of the Marine will conduct an investigation into the tragedy. Such a report will be 'blame-free' and only concern itself with the facts. However, the department can then invite the Health and Safety Authority to conduct an investigation which will apportion blame, according to industry sources.

The fishing industry comes within the ambit of the stringent new Health and Safety at Work laws which provide for fines of up to Euro3m as well as prison sentences.

The HSA investigation would cover such issues as whether the boat was overloaded and whether all required safety equipment was on board and in use.

But no investigation can be carried out either by Marine or the HSA until the boats are brought to the surface, added the source.