Searchers yesterday recovered the body of a man missing after he was swept out to sea while rescuing two swimmers who got into difficulty off Owenahincha strand in west Cork on Sunday afternoon.
The body of businessman Peter O'Keeffe (37), from Ovens, near Ballincollig, Co Cork, was recovered by the trawler Gaia under skipper Seánie Harrington at around 5.30pm yesterday, as the boat completed a trawl of the bay some 640m (2,100ft) offshore.
Mr O'Keeffe's body was brought aboard directly offshore where he and fellow rescuer Jonathan Herlihy (22) entered the water at around 1.30pm on Sunday to rescue a British man and his Kilkenny-born girlfriend.
Mr Herlihy, a student from Riverstown, in Glanmire, outside Cork city, who was due to graduate with a BSc in finance at UCC next week, is also feared to have perished in the rescue. The search for his body recommences this morning. Mr O'Keeffe's body was brought to Skibbereen last night, where he was identified, and transferred to Cork University Hospital for a postmortem before release to his family.
A director of family-owned Celtic Fuels in Ballincollig, Mr O'Keeffe had got engaged three weeks ago to Anne Riordan from Bandon. The couple were due to marry next year. They had just sold their house in Ovens and were buying a new house in Bandon.
They had been attending the wedding of Ms Riordan's cousin at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery on Saturday and went for a walk on Owenahincha Strand on Sunday. When they spotted two swimmers in difficulty, Mr O'Keeffe entered the water. Together with Mr Herlihy, he managed to get a life buoy to the two swimmers, who succeeded in getting ashore. However, both Mr O'Keeffe and Mr Herlihy were swept away by a strong wave and submerged by rough seas off the popular west Cork beach.
A major search operation was launched, involving Irish Coastguard helicopters from Shannon and Waterford, cliff and coastal rescue teams, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), along with local fishermen. The sea search was under the command of Lieut Cmdr Brian Fitzgerald of the LE Aoife.
Last night Lieut Cmdr Fitzgerald said the discovery of Mr O'Keeffe's body in the approximate area where he had disappeared meant the team would be able to concentrate its efforts in the search for Mr Herlihy.
"We had been broadening the search but now, because of this discovery, we can focus our efforts again. I would appeal to trawler owners in the west Cork area to come and help us . . . We need more trawlers," he said.