HUNDREDS OF mourners attended the funerals in Co Donegal yesterday of the two brothers, both of them grandfathers, who drowned after their fishing boat sank when they were tending their lobster pots off Inishowen Head last Friday night.
Requiem Mass for father-of-four Francis McDaid (68) took place in St Patrick's Church, Aughaclay, in the parish of Malin. It was followed by the funeral of his brother, Danny (70), a father of five, after Requiem Mass in St Mary's Church in Lagg, also in the parish of Malin.
Speaking at the funerals, Malin parish priest Fr Brian Brady said the cruel sea had robbed the community of two good family men.
"We gather as a community engulfed by grief and sadness with a loss in our hearts and questions in our minds. How did this happen to two experienced fishermen on a calm sea? Why were we deprived of two such fine men?
"We come together as a people who have sadly been burdened too often in the past with tragedy at sea and we bring with us the cumulative pain of all of these disasters that have blighted our small community," he said.
The brothers, both from the fishing village of Glengad, were reported missing by their brother Michael at 5pm on Friday when their boat, the Strath Marie, failed to return to Bonagee Pier. Their bodies were later recovered from the sea by lifeboat personnel and by rescue helicopter crew.
They were taken to Altnagelvin hospital in Derry.