LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago

A LARGE RESCUE operation is underway at Carlingford Lough in Co Louth after a fishing boat sank. 

One person has been rescued and rescuers are still attempting to recover a second person from the vessel.

The sunken vessel is the Jas Josephine, a small fishing boat registered in Newry and based at Carlingford Marina. 

Irish Coast Guard and RNLI rescue boats have attended the scene, as has Coast Guard’s Dublin-based helicopter.

The boat sank within two minutes off Greenore, local Sinn Féin councillor and member of the Cooley community alert group Fiona Mhic Conchoille told The Journal. 

The alarm was raised when a member of the public contacted the Irish Coast Guard’s Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Dublin shortly after 12.30pm today. 

“As part of this response, the Irish Coast Guard’s helicopter Rescue 116, based in Dublin, and the Greenore Coast Guard Unit were tasked by MRCC Dublin to the scene,” a spokesperson for the Department of Transport said. 

“One person has been recovered from the sunken vessel by a local boat and transferred into the care of HSE paramedics at Greenore harbour. There is still an ongoing operation to recover another person from the casualty vessel,” the spokesperson said. 

Kilkeel RNLI launched its Atlantic 85 lifeboat at 1pm, an RNLI spokesperson told The Journal.

It’s understood emergency services from the North are also involved in the rescue operation. 

A garda spokesperson said gardaí were assisting at “an incident”, but did not provide further details.