5 brothers saved after fishing boat sinks east of St. John’s

Five fishermen from Newfoundland’s Southern Shore were rescued at sea on Friday after their 50-foot fishing vessel sank about 160 kilometres east of St. John’s.

Derek O’Brien and his four brothers, who had been out fishing shrimp, were steaming home aboard their vessel, the Grand Mars, when O’Brien noticed something was wrong.

“All of a sudden, she seemed to be going down by the stern,” said O’Brien.

“We whacked the pumps on her, but she just kept on going and, within 20 minutes or so, we were in the life-raft.”