The shallow waters of Bannow Bay in south-west Co Wexford looked deceptively benign in the sunshine yesterday as an air, sea and land search continued for the body of seven-year-old Jonathan Dowdall, of River Valley, Swords, Co Dublin.
The body of Jonathan's uncle, Mr Michael Gaffney (52), of Riverside Park, Coolock, Co Dublin, was recovered from the bay on Tuesday night, hours after the incoming tide cut off a small family group on a cockle-picking expedition on the sands.
Mr Gaffney's son, Raymond (13), who survived the incident, was being treated for shock yesterday. A non-swimmer, he had struggled through almost a mile of rising waters to reach the shore and raise the alarm.
The two families hit by the tragedy were on holiday together at the small coastal resort of Cullenstown, near Carrick-on-Bannow, where they had been regular visitors every summer for the last 10 years.
Mr Gaffney, his son and nephew had walked out from the eastern side of Bannow Bay to the Cockle Strand, a popular shellfish-gathering area which is uncovered at low tide.
It is believed they were taken by surprise when the incoming tide cut off their route back, and they decided to head across the sand to the opposite shore.
However, the advancing tide flooded that route also, and it is thought that Mr Gaffney, said to be a strong swimmer, succumbed - possibly to a heart attack - as he attempted to save his young nephew.
Raymond Gaffney, running ahead, managed to wade, and finally dog-paddle, through the rising waters to the western shore. He then made his way along a road to the nearby house of Mr Martin Culleton, who contacted the emergency services.
Air Corps helicopters, local units of the Irish Marine Emergency Service and RNLI lifeboats from Fethard and Kilmore Quay took part in the intensive search that followed. They were aided by local boats, while residents and visitors to the area combed both shores of the three-mile-long bay.
Mr Gaffney's body was recovered some distance up the bay after 9 p.m., and the search for Jonathan continued into the early hours of yesterday and was resumed at dawn.
Apart from a narrow channel, most of the 12sq km bay dries out at low tide, and Mr Declan Hearne, commander of the IMES units at the scene, pointed out that the advancing tide was capable of covering level sand at alarming speed. "When the tide starts coming in on a flat strand you would need a motorbike to keep up with it," he said.
A caller to South East Radio, Ms Irene Griffin, said she and her husband had narrowly escaped drowning in the same area just over a month ago. "We went out about three-quarters of a mile and thought there was no problem. But when we turned to go back, the water had come in around us and it was a different story. Had it been another five minutes we would have drowned."
Ms Griffin said there were no warning signs about the danger of going far out on the sands at low tide, and local people said that sand patterns and currents were constantly shifting and changing in the bay.
In her recently published book, A Wexford Childhood 1915-1930, Mrs Mary Finn (83), who lives in the nearby village of Saltmills, recalls a fatality in the 1920s when a man, his wife and son, who were cockle-pickers, were cut off by the incoming tide in the bay.
The wife and son got to safety, but the man was drowned. "At my age I didn't think I would see another such tragedy there," Mrs Finn said yesterday.
Divers from the local Hook Sub-Aqua Club yesterday joined the search for Jonathan, which continued unsuccessfully until nightfall and will resume this morning.
Meanwhile, Irish Naval Service divers and other rescue units were carrying out a search of Dunmore East harbour for a 29-year-old Waterford man who has been missing in the area since the early hours of Tuesday morning.