A search resumes at first light today for two young men feared drowned after they got into difficulty while swimming near Bonmahon, Co Waterford, on Sunday. Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent, in Bonmahon
Mr Eoin Barry (24), Dunhill, Co Waterford, and his friend, Mr Gerard Shannon (24), Kilmeaden, also Co Waterford, got into difficulty while swimming near Ballydwane Cove, just under a mile west of Bonmahon, shortly after 7 p.m. on Sunday.
The two friends and a third man, Mr Brendan O'Connell (26), from Waterford City, had climbed down a sharp promontory of rock to sea level before Mr Barry and Mr Shannon went for a swim.It is believed Mr Shannon got into difficulties and Mr O'Connell tried to reach him with some clothes tied together before Mr Barry went back into the water to try to save him. Both men were tugged under.
It is understood that the three men had earlier watched Waterford win the Munster championship on television in a local pub, The Bally Inn.
Mr O'Connell raised the alarm on his mobile phone and the Irish coastguard Sikorsky helicopter based at Waterford regional airport was scrambled. Irish Coastguard cliff- and coastal-rescue teams from Tramore, Bonmahon, Helvick and Dunmore East were also mobilised.
Gardaí under Supt Jerry Lynch of Tramore and members of the local Civil Defence were also involved in the search, which was called off at 12.30 a.m. on Monday but which resumed at 4 a.m.
Dunmore East and Helvick RNLI lifeboats joined in the search, as did Bonmahon inshore lifeboat, but strong winds and heavy swells hampered the search along the jagged and rocky coastline, where some cliffs are over 100 feet high.
A team of Naval Service divers under Sub Lieut Tony O'Regan joined the operation yesterday but were hampered by heavy swells. Lieut O'Regan said the swells at the accident site made it unsafe to use any of the 10-man diving team but they were hoping calmer weather today would allow divers to search the rocky inlets.
Mr Ger Butler of Tramore Coastguard Cliff and Rescue said the area was better known among local people for fishing than for swimming as it appeared there were strong undercurrents and heavy kelp and seaweed in the inlet where the men were lost.
Relatives of the two missing men maintained an anxious vigil at the headland overlooking the scene yesterday and Mr Barry's uncle, Michael, said the families were now hoping their bodies would be recovered.
"At this stage, we are just hoping that the bodies will be recovered either tonight or tomorrow. The longer it goes on, the harder it becomes," he said.
Mr Barry, a thatcher, is one of two children of James and Margaret Barry from Dunhill, while Mr Shannon - who returned earlier this year from Australia - is one of five children of Christopher and Katherine Shannon.
Meanwhile, gardaí have named the man who died while swimming in Tramore on Sunday evening as 45-year-old Joseph Phelan from St John's Park in Waterford City.
Mr Phelan got into difficulties while swimming off the main strand in Tramore at around 5 p.m. on Sunday and a group of surfers managed to bring him ashore. He was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival.