Two investigations will be carried out into the collision in Dublin Bay at the weekend between a yacht and a work-boat in which four people were injured, one of whom was detained in hospital.
The Department of the Marine and the Dublin Port Authority Harbour Master, Capt Bob Wiltshire, will conduct separate investigations into the incident, which is believed to be the first collision in decades between a pleasure boat and a commercial vessel in Dublin Bay.
The crash happened half way between the Poolbeg lighthouse and Dun Laoghaire harbour, about a mile from the harbour, at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The work-boat, a small steel tug, collided with the 26 ft yacht Dymous, a committee boat monitoring a regatta run jointly by the yacht clubs in Dun Laoghaire.
Details of the collision were sketchy but an emergency call was put through to the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat which brought the injured from the yacht. The sailing vessel was damaged and was towed back into harbour. It is believed the Dymous was attached to the Royal St George yacht club and those injured were members of the National Yacht club. Neither club could be contacted for comment.
Two ambulances were called and four people, two men and two women, were brought to St Michael's Hospital casualty section. Three were treated for minor injuries and discharged. One of the women was admitted to the hospital and later transferred to St Vincent's Hospital where she underwent surgery yesterday morning. A hospital spokeswoman would say only that she was "comfortable".
The tugboat, a heavy steel service vessel, was involved in pipe-laying on the seabed for the Dublin Bay Project, the £200 million sewage treatment works which includes a pipeline linking Sutton treatment station with Poolbeg sewage treatment works.
The last collision in Dublin bay was between two commercial vehicles in 1991, the mv Kilkenny and the mv Hassel werder, when three people died.
