Families of Dutchmen feared drowned arrive in West Cork

The families of two Dutch men feared drowned in Co Cork have arrived on the Sheep's Head Peninsula as searchers this morning resumed the search for one body.

Dutch friends, Roland Deckers (31), and Othman Rahmouni (33), from Amsterdam, went missing from Mr Decker's family's holiday home on the Sheep's Head peninsula last Saturday.

The alarm was raised late on Sunday night and a major search operation began on Monday, with the Coast Guard recovering the body of a man thought to be one of the two on Monday afternoon.

Gardaí have yet to formally identify the body recovered and have sought dental records for both Dutch men to help them with the process.

The search continued on Tuesday without success but was stood down yesterday amid the major storm hitting the south coast.

This morning, members of the Coast Guard coast and cliff rescue team from Goleen and members of West Cork Civil Defence assembled near Kilcrohane to resume the search.

The search will be focused on the northern shore of the Sheep’s Head peninsula near the Deckers holiday home at the Cove at Eskeraha, near where the body was found on Monday.

Meanwhile, Mr Deckers’s parents, Herman and Karen, and sister Lorinda, along with Mr Rahmouni’s two brothers, have arrived in West Cork to be briefed on the search.

The two families were due to arrive at Cork Airport yesterday but were diverted to Shannon because of storm force winds and were met by gardaí and brought to West Cork.

Supt Mick Fitzpatrick of Bantry Garda station, who is heading up the search operation for the two men, then briefed the two families on the search to date and what is planned for today.

Meanwhile, in Cork city, a search operation also resumed this morning for a 20-year-old man who was seen entering the River Lee in the city centre over the weekend.

Members of the Coast Guard coast and cliff rescue team from Crosshaven have joined with Mallow Search and Rescue to search the Lee from the city centre down to the Marina.

Naval Service divers are also searching the river from where the man was seen entering the water near Patrick’s Bridge on the North Channel downstream to Custom House Quay.