Young man who drowned off Waterford coast named locally as Cian Nugent

A young man who died after getting into difficulty in the water off the Waterford coast has been named locally as Cian Nugent.

Gardaí and emergency services, including an Irish Coast Guard helicopter, responded to a call that a group of friends had gotten into trouble in the water at Whiting Bay in Ardmore at around 1.30pm on Friday afternoon.

The Coast Guard removed three of the five people from the water with the others making their own way to shore.

Mr Nugent, who was 21 years old, was taken by air ambulance to Cork University Hospital for treatment but was later pronounced dead.

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The young man is understood to have been an engineering student at University College Cork. He was from Old Parish in Dungarvan, Co Waterford.

Independent councillor Séamus O’Donnell, from Old Parish, Dungarvan said the local community was “shocked” at the news of the young man’s death.

Mr Nugent had been “born and raised” in Old Parish and had come from a farming family, he said. The area where the group were swimming was a “dangerous spot” with a “terrible current”, he said.