A FISHERMAN whose vessel sank 10 miles off the coast of Kilkeel last Tuesday has spoken of how his colleague was dragged under by the sinking trawler.
Stephen Kearney, skipper of the Ardglass-based Snowdonia, was floating in the water with his friend.
Mr Kearney said his friend’s foot got entangled in a rope and he was “dragged down” as the Snowdonia went under.
He was only saved because he managed to “kick his trainer off”.
The skipper told UTV how his boat started taking on water after it was struck by a big wave.
The footage of the sinking ship was filmed from the Tribute, whose crew rescued Captain Kearney and another man.
“A split second and you had to react,” the captain said.
The video footage showed the rescuers approaching with around a third of the sinking vessel still sticking up out of the water. However, it went down in seconds as the rescue vessel approached.
The two men were in the water for 10 minutes before they were brought on board. They were then airlifted to hospital by the Irish coastguard but escaped from the incident unharmed.
Despite the experience, Mr Kearney says he plans to be back fishing in a few weeks.