A Swiss couple described as "icons of the River Shannon" may have drowned together on the river they loved so well.
The body of Ms Ruth Borner, a journalist in her 60s, was discovered on Monday by fishermen at Warren Point, near the village of Lecarrow on the Roscommon side of Lough Ree.
When their cruising boat, Winkle Ried, was found with its engine still running on the shore of Inchmore Island yesterday, it became apparent that her husband, Walter (71), was also missing.
He was still missing last night, when poor weather hampered the efforts of divers who were concentrating their search near where Ms Borner's body was found. A post-mortem was carried out on her body yesterday evening.
The couple were last seen when they went out on the lake on Sunday evening. Among the theories being advanced is that one of them fell into the water, and the other jumped in to attempt a rescue.
A lifebuoy was found close to where Ms Borner's body was found. Gardaí are working with Interpol to contact the next of kin.
Mr Ray Byrne, who has known the Borners for 10 years, called them "icons of the river Shannon". Mr Borner, a keen photographer, assembled what is thought to be an unrivalled collection of slides of the Shannon taken over the past 30 years.
Every spring he would hold a slide-show for people interested in the river, selecting his best 100 photos from the 500 or more he had taken the previous year.
A former marketing executive with Swissair, he was one of the managing editors of the Shell Guide to the River Shannon, considered to be "the bible" of the Shannon.
"Thirty years ago Ruth and Walter came here and hired a boat from Kerry Sloane in Athlone Cruisers.
"They loved the place so much they bought a boat and came here three or four times a year for three or four weeks at a time," said Mr Byrne, proprietor of the Wineport Restaurant on the shores of Lough Ree. He and his wife, Jane, visited the couple at their home in Dorf, an hour from Zurich.
"They knew the river better than anyone, better even than Waterways Ireland. Their boat was kept for them by Tony and Maureen Chatterton at Portaneena Marina, and they would cruise up and down the Shannon when they came here," Mr Byrne said."They were totally inseparable. Ruth was a journalist with a Swiss women's magazine and the two of them led a number of readers' trips to the Shannon."
Mr Byrne has called for Walter's photographs to be taken over by Waterways Ireland, and a permanent and fitting home found for them along the Shannon.
"It is a magnificent collection of slides. It would be terrible if it wasn't given a proper home. It would be like Patrick Kavanagh's manuscripts not being looked after properly," he said.
Supt Kevin Callan, who is co-ordinating the investigation, said the case looked like a tragic accident.
"We are keeping an open mind on the issue," he said.
Gardaí have issued an appeal to the public to help piece together the couple's final movements. Local fishermen and tourists were interviewed yesterday.