The fishing captain who saved the lives of three men off the coast of Donegal yesterday has said he is no hero.
John ‘Jock’ Harkin was unloading another boat at Leenan Pier when he heard another boat had gone down off Fanad Head.
John jumped in his own boat, the Niamh Crone, along with three other men including his son Damien and Sean Kearney and James Doherty.
The 58 year old fishing skipper told Donegal Daily “We were unloading fish on Leenan Pier when we heard about the call. We then heard that three men were in the water so we rushed out as fast as we could.
“We got to them fairly quickly. Two of them were okay but I honestly thought the third man was dead.
“He was a terrible colour and he wasn’t moving at all.
“We got them out of the water and got them back to the pier as quickly as we could.”
John and his fellow rescuers were first to reach the men who had been forced to abandon their stricken vessel, the St Elizabeth just after 1.30pm.
Two of the three rescued men have been named locally as Matthew Kearney and Maurice Ivors.
John, from Clonmany on the Inishowen Peninsula, said he is no hero but was just delighted to be able to help save the men.
“I don’t think any of us class ourselves as heroes. It’s just what anybody would do.
“We didn’t have much time to think about what we were doing. It’s a good thing that someone on board had good eyesight because we got to them fairly quickly.
“I wouldn’t like to think what might have happened if they had been in the water much longer.
“It could be us in that sea tomorrow and I would like to think that someone would be able to do the same for us,” he said.
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