Body of Canadian submarine victim flown home

THE body of the Canadian seaman who died following a fire on the stricken submarine, Chicoutimi, was returned home yesterday after a joint Irish-Canadian military and religious service at Dublin Airport.

Earlier, the two other submariners hospitalised following the incident, were allowed to leave their beds in the company of medical staff to bid farewell to their comrade, Lieutenant Chris Saunders, before his cortege left Sligo.

Lieutenant Saunders, a 32-year-old married father of two from Halifax, Canada, died on Wednesday night as he was being airlifted to Sligo General Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation following a fire on board the Chicoutimi off the north Irish coast last Tuesday.