A BODY has been recovered from Lough Derg following a big search mounted after a power boat was found capsized and empty near the shore of the lake on the river Shannon.
The discovery was made by divers last night in the same area where the 20ft speed boat was found upturned the previous night.
Gardaí established the identity of the boat’s owner but had been unable to make contact with him. As a result, a multi-agency search was mounted, resuming at first light yesterday.
The man’s body was located near where the upturned and empty boat was found close to the shoreline in Youghal Bay, near Garrykennedy, Co Tipperary.
When located, the vessel was found to have sustained damage to its hull and propellers, leading to fears there was someone on board when it foundered.
It is believed the boat was last seen in the Dromineer area on Wednesday afternoon about 4km south of where it was found capsized.
There was speculation last night that the boat owner lived in Co Clare but was originally from Limerick. The man’s family travelled to Garrykennedy yesterday and were visibly upset at the scene.
The search was called off at about 9pm. It is now believed that there may have been only one person in the boat.
The extensive search involved the RNLI, Coast Guard, Civil Defence, Garda and Mountshannon Search and Rescue. The Shannon-based search and rescue helicopter carried out several comprehensive sweeps of the lake on Thursday night and again yesterday.
Garda divers joined the operation in the afternoon but stood down at about 7pm while members of the Killaloe/Ballina Search and Recovery Unit continued diving into the evening.
The body was removed to the Mid-Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, where a postmortem is expected to be carried out today.
As the search went on, the Lough Derg lifeboat was diverted to another incident where four people were forced to abandon their cruise boat after running “hard aground” on rocks close to Terryglass at the northern end of the lake.
The four launched a rigid inflatable boat and abandoned the cruiser amid fears that it might capsize.