Context:1987A-like events form a rare sub-group of hydrogen-rich core-collapse supernovae that are thought to originate from the explosion of blue supergiant stars .
Although SN 1987A is the best known supernova , very few objects of this group have been discovered and , hence , studied .

Aims : In this paper we investigate the properties of SN 2009E , which exploded in a relatively nearby spiral galaxy ( NGC 4141 ) and that is probably the faintest 1987A-like supernova discovered so far .
We also attempt to characterize this subgroup of core-collapse supernovae with the help of the literature and present new data for a few additional objects .

Methods : The lack of early-time observations from professional telescopes is compensated by frequent follow-up observations performed by a number of amateur astronomers .
This allows us to reconstruct a well-sampled light curve for SN 2009E .
Spectroscopic observations which started about 2 months after the supernova explosion , highlight significant differences between SN 2009E and the prototypical SN 1987A .
Modelling the data of SN 2009E allows us to constrain the explosion parameters and the properties of the progenitor star , and compare the inferred estimates with those available for the similar SNe 1987A and 1998A .

Results : The light curve of SN 2009E is less luminous than that of SN 1987A and the other members of this class , and the maximum light curve peak is reached at a slightly later epoch than in SN 1987A .
Late-time photometric observations suggest that SN 2009E ejected about 0.04 M _ { \odot } of ^ { 56 } Ni , which is the smallest ^ { 56 } Ni mass in our sample of 1987A-like events .
Modelling the observations with a radiation hydrodynamics code , we infer for SN 2009E a kinetic plus thermal energy of about 0.6 foe , an initial radius of \sim 7 \times 10 ^ { 12 } cm and an ejected mass of \sim 19 M _ { \odot } .
The photospheric spectra show a number of narrow ( v \approx 1800 km s ^ { -1 } ) metal lines , with unusually strong Ba II lines .
The nebular spectrum displays narrow emission lines of H , Na I , [ Ca II ] and [ O I ] , with the [ O I ] feature being relatively strong compared to the [ Ca II ] doublet .
The overall spectroscopic evolution is reminiscent of that of the faint ^ { 56 } Ni-poor type II-plateau supernovae .
This suggests that SN 2009E belongs to the low-luminosity , low ^ { 56 } Ni mass , low-energy tail in the distribution of the 1987A-like objects in the same manner as SN 1997D and similar events represent the faint tail in the distribution of physical properties for normal type II-plateau supernovae .

Conclusions :