Gardaí searchfor manin river

GARDAÍ continued their search for the body of a young foreign man yesterday after a dare at a Wicklow river went horribly wrong.

The local subaqua unit began diving in the Avoca River, Arklow, after 10.30am.

Locals said yesterday it was feared the search and rescue operation was a search and retrieval situation.

The tragedy began on Sunday when two men, believed to be Latvian or Lithuanian, were drinking on the river bank.

It is understood both men then decided to swim across the river and back.

Clothes were later found on the riverbank.

It is thought that while both men reached the other side of the Avoca River, only one reached it back to the other side. The missing man, aged 28, is thought to have travelled down on a visit from Dundalk.

The surviving man is thought to be working in construction on the building of a local shopping centre.

Divers and members of the water unit circled lengths of the waters yesterday.

Conditions were understood to be good. However visibility in the water is reportedly bad, hampering the search operation.

One local, assisting in the operation, explained:

“The two guys went for a swim, but there is now the fear that they were full of the joy of alcohol.

“It’s a difficult search with the waters and the rocks.”

Boats sailing up and down Avoca River were being warned about the missing man while searches continued for his body.