The yacht had been on passage from Dublin to Vigo in Spain.
Four people were rescued on Thursday morning after their 14m yacht got into difficulty and subsequently sank off the Wexford coast.
The Kilmore Quay RNLI volunteer crew were requested to launch their all-weather Tamar class lifeboat Killarney by the Irish Coast Guard at around 2.45am.
This was to assess the situation as the yacht had sustained a damaged rudder 50 miles south of Kilmore Quay.
Under Coxswain Eugene Kehoe and with four crew members onboard, the lifeboat immediately launched and made its way to the scene.
The yacht had been on passage from Dublin to Vigo in Spain and had left Kilmore Quay on Wednesday afternoon.
On their way to the scene, the lifeboat crew were updated that the yacht’s crew had made the decision to turn back and slowly return to Kilmore Quay.
Arriving at the location at 5.30am, the lifeboat crew checked that all onboard the yacht were safe and well before assessing the situation.
A decision was made to establish a towline and return the vessel to the nearest port which was Kilmore Quay.
As the yacht began to take on water, the lifeboat crew placed a salvage pump on the vessel but, due to the speed at which the vessel was taking on water, it was not enough to deal with the situation.
A second salvage pump was requested by the Irish Coast Guard Helicopter Rescue 117 from Waterford which was also tasked to the scene.
However, it was decided at this stage to remove the four people from the yacht and transfer them safely onto Kilmore Quay RNLI’s lifeboat.
“The yacht subsequently sank,” the RNLI said in a statement.
The lifeboat brought the crew of the yacht safely back to Kilmore Quay where they arrived at around 11am.
Kilmore Quay RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager John Grace said: “It is always sad when a vessel is lost at sea but thankfully the crew onboard the yacht were safely rescued and are now back on shore.
“The casualties did the right thing in raising the alarm when they encountered problems in the early hours of this morning which helped to prevent the situation from becoming much worse.
“We would like to wish the casualties well following their ordeal this morning and we would like to commend our volunteers who despite the early call and darkness of night, did not hesitate to respond.”
Main image via RNLI/Kilmore Quay
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