The bodies of two kayakers were recovered from the water near Portlaw in Co Waterford last night.
The two men, both in their early 30s, got into difficulty in the River Clodagh, a tributary of the River Suir, at Portlaw. The dead men were named locally as Philip Kelly from Tipperary and Connie Smith from Cavan. It is understood they had been living and working in the Waterford area.
A third man who was also canoeing on the river made it to shore and raised the alarm.
The Marine Rescue Coordination Centre was informed of the incident around 9pm, although Fire Service and ambulance crews were already in attendance at the scene.
The Bunmahon, Dunmore East coastguard units and the Carrick-on-Suir river rescue team assisted in the recovery of the bodies of the two men.
The bodies of the two men were taken to Regional Hospital in Waterford City.
Michael Hickey, of Carrick On Suir river rescue, said a walled fish path and weir next to an old factory at the point where the kayakers got into trouble were a “deadly combination” for water-users. “Even experience wouldn’t do much good in this situation,” he said. “It’s a deadly combination of a weir with a fish path just below it.”
Philip McCormack, of Waterford’s 180 Kayak Club, said local clubs wouldn’t use the weir. “It’s not a weir that you would want to go into unless you had lots of rescue cover,” he said.
Meanwhile, a 22-year-old man was treated for hypothermia and minor injuries after falling about six metres into the water at the Lakeside Hotel in Killaloe.
Killaloe Coast Guard rescued the man and treated him at the Coast Guard base before he was taken to Limerick Regional Hospital.
Additional reporting: PA