THE BODY of an Irish teenager has been recovered a day after he attempted to help his fellow band mate who got into difficulty while swimming off a beach in Brazil .
Firemen recovered the body of 18-year-old Timothy Kennelly yesterday.
Mr Kennelly and his band mate Leon Villalba (21) died after getting into difficulties while swimming during time off from a tour of Brazil .
The Irishman drowned while trying to rescue Mr Villalba off a treacherous part of the Brazilian coast.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday that Mr Kennelly is an Irish citizen. He and his family, who are also Irish, live in London .
“The Department of Foreign Affairs are providing consulate assistance to the family,” a spokesman said last night.
Mr Villalba’s body was washed up on the beach in the northeastern city of Aracaju on Thursday where three other band mates tried but failed to resuscitate him.
A search was then initiated to locate Mr Kennelly.
The incident happened around 2.30pm on Thursday at a popular beach called Atalaia in the north east state of Sergipe.
Praia de Atalaia is notorious as one of Brazil’s most dangerous beaches, however firefighters told Brazilian media that sea conditions were calm when the two men died.
Medical authorities say that they expect the men’s families to arrive in Sergipe on Monday.
Both men were members of the heavy metal band After Death, which was touring Brazil. Mr Kennelly, the band’s bass player, joined the group six months ago.
Drummer Barry O’Connor (22) told the BBC the waves got heavier before a “massive” one took his fellow musicians under.
“The waves started getting heavier and I came out. But Tim and Leon went out further and looked really confident. The next thing I know, I heard Leon screaming ‘help! help! help!’ Tim heard him and turned around and swam toward him. He exerted lots of energy doing that and by the time he got to Leon , he was struggling also.”
He added that Mr Kennelly was mature for his age and said he was “a great guy all round”.