Divers find body of missing boat passenger

The body of a man who jumped from a pleasure cruiser into the River Shannon at the weekend was recovered yesterday.

Matthew Armstrong (20), Cortobber, Co Roscommon, had been on the Moonriver pleasure boat at around 1am on Sunday morning when the incident happened.

Mr Armstrong's body was recovered at around 2.30pm yesterday afternoon by members of the Lough Ree Sub-Aqua Club who were assisting the Garda Underwater Unit in the search, along with the Athlone Sub-Aqua Club. The body was removed for postmortem to Sligo General Hospital.

Mr Armstrong was out with friends and was on the deck of the boat which has a fully licensed bar and travels up the river from Carrick-on-Shannon every Saturday night.

Most passengers were drinking in the boat's covered lounge but a small number of smokers were on deck at the time and Mr Armstrong was in their company.

CCTV footage recovered from the boat shows Mr Armstrong removing his shoes and socks before jumping over the railing of the boat. A lifebuoy was thrown into the water by a crew member but Mr Armstrong was carried away by a strong current.