Man who drowned in River Lee had jumped in to help friend

Gardaí are to prepare a file for the coroner's court following the death of a 40 year old man who drowned while fishing with friends on the River Lee outside Cork city on Sunday evening.

A major search operation had been launched for the man, named locally as Bernard Geasley (40) from Innishmore Drive in Ballincollig, after he went missing in the river at around 8pm.

Mr Geasley was fishing with three others in Ballincollig Regional Park when one of his friends slipped into the river and he jumped in to try and help the other man from the water.

The other man managed to make it to the river bank but Mr Geasley failed to surface and his friends immediately raised the alarm and gardaí and the emergency services attended at the scene.

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They were joined by a team of members of the Ballincollig Unit of Cork County Fire Service as well as volunteers from Mallow Search and Rescue as search teams began a trawl of the river.

Mr Geasley was recovered from the river shortly before 1am on Monday morning by members of the Mallow Search and Rescue team near where he had entered the river to help his friend.

He was pronounced dead at the scene and his remains were brought to Cork University Hospital where a post-mortem examination was due to take place later on Monday. Gardaí say they are treating Mr Geasley’s death as a tragic accident and will include the post-mortem results in a file which they will prepare for an inquest at the South Cork Coroner’s Court.