More than €42,000 has been raised in less than a day to assist the family of a Co Cork man who died after taking ill while on a skiing trip in a French resort at the weekend.
Cian O’Brien (20), who was from Tower, near Blarney, was an electrical apprentice at a pharmaceutical company in Cork. He travelled to France with a Cork skiing and snowboarding club and was among a group of more than 300 people.
Mr O’Brien went out with members of the group on Sunday night. The alarm was raised on Monday morning when friends were unable to wake him. In spite of the efforts of paramedics he was pronounced dead at the scene by a local GP.
A postmortem examination is set to take place following the death at the ski resort of Alpe d’Huez.
READ MORE
A GoFundMe page was set up with the agreement of his family. It is raising funds to help the family to pay for the costs associated with “bringing [Cian] home and laying him to rest”.
Mr O’Brien was a former player with Blarney Football Club and Blarney GAA club. He was well regarded in the local area.
Funeral arrangements will be finalised in the coming days. A death notice on Rip.ie reads that Cian (Cob) was late of Gleann na Rí, Tower, Blarney.
He is survived by his parents Paul and Sabrina, his sister Lauren, grandparents Tim and Cora Ryall and Irene O’Brien, extended family, and his neighbours and “many friends”.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it is aware of the case and is providing consular assistance.
