A declining island community, which has been waging a 20-year campaign for a safe cable-car crossing, was yesterday mourning the loss of one of its most popular inhabitants in a boating tragedy.
Mr John Allen, in his early seventies, is missing, feared drowned, after attempting to make the treacherous crossing from Bullsmouth on Achill Island, Co Mayo, to Innisbiggle Island on Wednesday night.
His empty boat was found drifting by search teams yesterday and brought to the tiny Valley Pier on Achill Island. The alarm was raised at about 11 p.m. on Wednesday and an extensive search began.
A marine rescue helicopter from Shannon joined members of the Achill Coastguard unit and Ballyglass inshore lifeboat in the search yesterday. Garda divers were due to join the search last evening.
The operation also included gardaí and civilians, from coastal communities on Achill Island and the north-west Mayo mainland, who carried out an extensive search of the shoreline at low tide.
As hopes faded yesterday for the safe return of Mr Allen, a South African who has been living on the island for more than a decade, the 50 or so remaining islanders living on tiny Innisbiggle lamented the many delays in putting a cable-car connection in place.
Former schoolteacher Mr Paddy Henry recalled that the missing man used regularly to traverse the dangerous 600 metre passage between Innisbiggle and Achill Island in his small boat.
Mr Henry recalled Mr Allen, who divided his time between the island and Westport, where he and his wife, Donna, also had a house, as an energetic man who devoted much time to planting trees and improving the property he bought on the south side of the island some 20 years ago.
The currents which islanders must face are regarded as among the most treacherous in Europe. With a young family recently leaving the island, the youngest person on Innisbiggle is well over 30, while the oldest is 89.
The battle to secure a cable car has been waged by islanders for two decades. A dispute involving the compulsory purchase of land for the cable car's mast has been the latest obstacle to the €2 million project.