A man who attempted to rescue two dogs from the sea at Newcastle, Co Wicklow, was swept out to sea and had to be saved by the Irish Marine Emergency Service's (IMES) helicopter.

The alarm was raised at about 6.30 p.m. yesterday by the man's female companion, using a mobile phone, when he got into difficulty.

The IMES instructed its coastal unit at Greystones and the Wicklow lifeboat to assist. On arrival at the scene, just after 7 p.m., the helicopter plucked the man from the sea, as darkness fell, about 400 yards off the beach between Kilcoole and Newcastle. The man, who was described as exhausted, was airlifted to Tallaght Hospital.

An air and sea search is continuing for two Spanish fishermen missing off the Cork coast after their trawler capsized in appalling weather conditions.

Six others members of the crew of 12 are reported to be safe and well after being picked up by another Spanish fishing vessel.

Four bodies have been recovered from the sea. The 120 foot trawler sank shortly after 1pm this afternoon about 70 miles southwest of Mizen Head. 

The Marine Rescue helicopter from Shannon and an Aer Corp spotter plane were sent to the scene.

Four Spanish fishermen lost their lives and two others were still missing last night after their 120-foot trawler Pescalanza was battered by hurricane winds and mountainous seas, 80 miles southwest of Mizen Head yesterday. Six of the 12-man crew were picked up by another trawler fishing in the vicinity.

Last night the six survivors and the bodies of the four fishermen who died were being taken back to the port of Vigo in north-western Spain on board the French-registered trawler, Ategorreta, which, like the British-registered Pescalanza, was also fishing out of Vigo.

The two trawlers, together with a third Spanish-manned vessel, the Meaban, were in the area noted for its rich whitefish grounds at this time of year. One theory is that the Pescalanza was hit by a freak wave when it had a huge catch on board and that it sank very quickly. However, the fact that five of the surviving crew members managed to launch a liferaft suggests that even in the conditions there was time to be alert to the danger. The sixth survivor was in the sea when he was picked up by the Ategorreta, which also recovered the bodies.

The accident occurred shortly before 1 p.m. yesterday. When the trawler went down, there were huge seas running with waves of more than 20 feet high and winds gusting at up to force 10. Once the neighbouring trawlers raised the alarm, a massive air-sea rescue operation swung into action.

It involved the LE Aisling, which was later stood down, two aircraft from the Irish emergency rescue services, including a helicopter from Shannon and a fixed-wing spotter aircraft which was diverted from the Donegal search for the Irish fishermen missing since Sunday. An RAF Nimrod from Kinloss in Scotland also joined the search and was replaced later by another Nimrod from Culdrose base in Cornwall. Other trawlers in the area as well as merchant shipping gave assistance in an attempt to locate the two missing fishermen.

As that search was going on, hopes were fading of finding Mr Patrick Courcey (25), the fisherman who fell overboard while on his way between Bantry and Whiddy Island at the weekend.

Mr Derry O'Donovan, the agent for Spanish fishermen in Castletownbere, Co Cork - the port used predominantly by them - said last night he had been in touch by radio with the Ategorreta following the rescue of the survivors and the recovery of the bodies. "I asked them how it happened. They just said that conditions were appalling and the Pescalanza may have taken a freak wave. It's hard to tell at this stage what happened exactly. But they did tell me that the way the weather was at the time, it was extremely difficult to pick up the five on the liferaft as well as the sixth man from the sea," he said.

The rescue operation was co-ordinated jointly by Valentia Radio in Kerry and Falmouth Radio in the UK. Even as darkness gathered, the Nimrod aircraft continued to sweep the area where the disaster occurred, but after light faded the decision had already been taken to discontinue the search for the two men until this morning.

Fishermen in Castletownbere said the crew of the Pescalanza were not well known in the town. In recent years, there has been tension between Irish and Spanish fishermen because of allegations that the smaller west Cork fleet was being intimidated by the larger Spanish trawlers.

Gale force winds on the northern and southern coasts are set to decrease slightly today. According to Met Éireann the winds, which touched storm force off the south coast yesterday, will stay at gale force but are expected to ease.

"The winds will be coming from a northerly direction. It will be very cold," said weather forecaster Mr Jerry Scully.

An area of low pressure was crossing the country yesterday and on its south-west and northern "flanks" the winds were extremely strong. Ships off the southern coast were reporting winds of up to 50 knots yesterday, he said. "The low has now drifted out to the Irish Sea. The winds are set to become more uniform. They will settle into a northerly direction overnight." 

Last night Stena Line, Irish Ferries and Swansea Cork Ferries said that all their sailings were going ahead as scheduled.

The new helicopter rescue service for the east coast, to be based at Dublin Airport, was inaugurated yesterday. The last links in the State's chain of improved airsea rescue cover have now been forged with the installation of the medium-lift helicopter and the redeployment of the Air Corps to the south-east. 

Speaking at yesterday's "fly-past" at Howth, Co Dublin, for the Sikorsky S61N, supplied by Bond Helicopters of Scotland, the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Dr Woods, paid tribute to the rescue services. 

With more than half the adult population involved in water-based pursuits, there had been a phenomenal increase in maritime activity in recent years, he said. This growth was most marked on the east coast, with traffic of some 25 million people across the Irish Sea annually. Protesting offshore exploration workers, who arrived in Howth to lobby the Minister about lack of employment of Irish-based staff in that sector, said they had decided against staging a full demonstration as a mark of respect to those who had lost their lives at sea. 

Mr Joe O'Toole, chairman of SIPTU's national offshore committee, said the workers were not happy with the commitment given by the Minister to address the situation. 

The Sikorsky S-61 will provide 24-hour cover from Dublin Airport, with a 15minute response time between 7.30 a.m. and 9 p.m. daily and 45 minutes thereafter. 

Bond Helicopters has been providing the Shannon-based medium-range craft for the Irish Marine Emergency Service (IMES) since January of last year. 

The new five-year contract for the east coast comes into effect tomorrow, July 1st, 21/2 years after the death of a Wexford fisherman, Mr Timmy Currid, off Howth, which prompted a review of eastcoast rescue cover. 

One third of the Bond pilots are ex-Air Corps, one third are ex-Royal Navy, and one third are commercial. About half of the helicopter crew are former Air Corps. 

The Sikorsky has an advanced day/night infra-red and zoom television system which includes a thermal imager to enhance the range at which vessels and survivors can be detected. The helicopter also has autohover capability. 

Members of the Dublin Fire Brigade were among those attending yesterday's function. IMES, directed by Capt Liam Kirwan, has recently trained fire-fighting teams as part of its own expansion. 

The Minister confirmed that an Air Corps helicopter would be redeployed to Waterford airport with effect from tomorrow. 

Originally a night-flying Dauphin was to be stationed for the south-east. Speaking to The Irish Times, the Minister said he had not yet seen the Price Waterhouse Defence Forces review, which advises against privatisation of search-and-rescue and recommends purchase of four medium-lift helicopters for the Air Corps. 

"All I want to do is to provide a service," Dr Woods said. The mixture of private, commercial and public elements in the rescue sector was working very well, he said, and there had been problems with shortage of Air Corps crew. 

"There are four former Air Corps pilots with Bond Helicopters," the Minister said. "That speaks for itself." 

Dr Woods also confirmed that he had given £10,000 to Mrs Carmel Currid, widow of Mr Currid, other two others being Ms Joan McGinley of Donegal and Dr Marion Broderick of the Aran Islands. None was present at yesterday's function.

Mr Michael Guilfoyle, Assistant Secretary at the Department of the Marine, was speaking at the launch of the new SAR (Search and Rescue) service operated by Scottish-based Bond Helicopters at Shannon Airport. 

He praised the original operators of the service, Irish Helicopters. "A large number of people are alive today because of that contract," he said. 

The chairman of Bond Helicopters, Mr Stephen Bond, said 19 of the 23 staff previously employed on the SAR service had joined his company. 

This would retain local expertise and knowledge. He said the contract was valued at £3.2 million. Start-up costs amounted to £1 million and aircraft and equipment cost £4£5 million, he said. All maintenance would be done in Shannon, he added. 

He said he was "a little bit surprised" at local complaints that the contract was not awarded again to Irish Helicopters. 

"People don't like change. Irish Helicopters was originally Irish, but is now 51 per cent UK-owned and 49 per cent American-owned, and the British interest is in the process of being bought up by an American group, giving the company a major American influence," he said. 

He also said Bond would be involved in off-shore activity using Shannon as a base and would bid for a similar SAR contract for the east coast, based at Baldonnel, which has been announced by the Government. 

The Aberdeen company is also based in Cork. Its UK and Irish operations currently involve 52 aircraft flying more than 50,000 hours a year from 20 bases, employing 600 staff. Sister companies world-wide employ 2,000 people. 

The Bond contract is initially for a minimum of 2 1/2 years and may be extended to five years on January 1st. 

The company has two Sikorsky S61Ns stationed at its purpose-built base at Shannon, with hangarage, engineering, logistics, operations and technical support. Another S61N is currently conducting flight tests of a new Autohover. Once certified, it will replace one of the aircraft currently at Shannon and become the primary SAR aircraft. 

The Shannon helicopters have advanced features, including an advanced day/night infra-red and zoom television system which combines for the first time a broadcast-quality colour daylight camera together with a high performance thermal imager, enhancing the range at which vessels and survivors can be detected. Recently-developed Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) incorporating cockpit voice and flight data recorders will also be standard equipment.