Missing fisherman's body recovered

THE RECOVERY of a local fisherman’s body in Waterford Estuary after a month-long search has been welcomed by locals.

There were renewed expressions of sympathy for John Ennis’s relatives. The father of four from Ballyhack, Co Wexford, had been missing since February 18th when the 9m vessel Na Buachaill sank off Duncannon in Co Wexford. The boat’s skipper Richard McNamara survived and swam ashore.

Hundreds of volunteers from the southeast and beyond had been involved in searching for Mr Ennis’s body since his disappearance last month. The remains were recovered by rescue services and local fishermen at about 9am yesterday.

The deceased was spotted in the water by a crewman of the Passage East car ferry which commutes between counties Waterford and Wexford.

Michael Hickey of the Carrick-on-Suir River Rescue service said on WLRfm: “After the searching that has been put in by all the local people and the different organisations, I’ve never seen such a search, it’s fantastic, the input into it.”

Chairman of the Waterford Estuary Fisherman’s Association Michael Connors said the recovery would bring “closure”. “It’s a great relief to everyone. Our sympathy goes out to the Ennis family. Today is the thirty-second day they were on Ballyhack quay, Duncannon quay non-stop . . . but it’s closure into the whole thing.”