Villagers joined fishermen and rescue services on Duncannon pier yesterday as word spread that local divers had found a car in the water off the end of the pier.
After the morning's grim discoveries of the bodies of Shane Byrne (6) and his older brother, Alan (10), both within five miles of the pier, it was believed that the body of their father, Stephen (41), would be inside the car. However, when the white Ford Escort was raised at 5.30 p.m., there was no sign of a body.
The boys' mother, Maeve, was found stabbed to death in the family home in Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny, on Wednesday. Her funeral Mass was held yesterday and mourners were told that her sons had also been found dead. Divers continued the search for Mr Byrne's body until dark yesterday in the vicinity of where the car was located.
The body of Shane Byrne was found by Mrs Mary McGrath, a local woman who was walking on Duncannon strand before 8 a.m. She saw the body floating in the water and pulled it to shore before contacting gardai.
Mr James Power (21) heard about the discovery on local radio and went to check the coastline behind his family's farm at Porter's Gate, about five miles further up the coast. There, after 10 a.m., he found Alan Byrne on the rocky each with his shirt covering his face.
Relatives positively identified the boys at about 1.30 p.m. in Waterford General Hospital. The Deputy State Pathogist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was concluding post-mortems on the bodies there last night.
Gardai believe the two boys and their father left their home late on Monday. The last sightings of them were made earlier that day. Several reports of sightings of the car had been made, but no reports had come from Duncannon.
Some locals in the fishing village knew Mr Byrne, who was an avid fisherman. He would often travel down to Duncannon to go on angling trips on boats from the harbour. The strand is a popular summer location for people from inland towns such as Kilkenny.
Supt Tom Saunderson, of New Ross, confirmed that the rescue services had hoped Mr Byrne's body would be recovered from the car, and said the search would continue in the vicinity of the car before widening along the shore. "It would have been all the better if the body had been recovered here, but I'm not surprised because the two young boys were found some distance away. The back window on the car is completely gone, the windscreen is shattered and the other four windows were rolled down," he said.
The car was taken to New Ross Garda station for examination. The car was found shortly after midday by Mr Billy O'Connor, Mr Peter Bogan and Mr Ray Codd, three divers from the local Hook Head Club who had been called in to aid the search. They were in the water little over 10 minutes before they located the car using a short-line weight. With no visibility, they could only feel the underside of the car as it rested on its roof.
Mr O'Connor said there was a possibility the boys had been swept out of the car after they had died or that they had attempted to escape as it sank.
"There is a very strong current out from the end of the pier and the bodies would have been carried," he said. He added that it was usually around three days before a body was washed ashore after a drowning incident.