Ninety divers look for missing fishermen

A SEARCH will continue today for two missing fishermen in west Cork after an extensive search of Glandore Bay over the weekend…

A SEARCH will continue today for two missing fishermen in west Cork after an extensive search of Glandore Bay over the weekend by more than 90 divers failed to find any trace of them.

On Saturday 78 civilian divers responded to an appeal by Caitlin Ní hAodha for volunteer divers to help search for her husband, Michael Hayes (52), and Egyptian Said Mohammed (23).

Yesterday 68 civilian divers joined 16 Naval Service and Garda divers to search for the men who have been missing since the Tit Bonhommesank on January 15th.

While Navy and Garda divers searched close to where the vessel went down at Adam Island, the volunteers searched a wide expanse of water west to Long Point.

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John Kearney, who co-ordinated the civilian divers, said they went down in pairs to search around 12 buoys marking search areas. Each pair searched up to a radius of 50m around each buoy.

Mr Kearney said he remained confident the men would be found as debris from the vessel was gathering in the area. The sea bed there formed a basin approximately 1.5km long by 500m wide, so if a body was washed in, hopes were high it would stay there.

Dave McMyler of the Irish Coastguard said the search would continue today. More than 260 personnel from the Irish Coastguard, the West Cork Civil Defence and the Garda along with civilian volunteers had combed the shores of Glandore Bay yesterday, he said.

Barry Roche

Barry Roche

Barry Roche is Southern Correspondent of The Irish Times