Appeal for volunteers to search for man’s body after ferry plunge

GARDAÍ are appealing for volunteers to help them search for a missing Polish man who is presumed to have drowned following an accident on a ferry.

Krystian Mielnik, aged 28, was a passenger in a Volkswagen Polo which plunged off a cross-river ferry in Cork harbour last Sunday evening. The driver of the car, a 32-year-old Polish man, was rescued by a local pensioner but, despite searches on the shoreline and underwater, there is still no sign of Mr Mielnik.

Superintendent Pat Sheahan, who is leading the Garda investigation, has appealed for volunteers to help gardaí in the search.

He is asking people to come to the Carrigaloe, near Cobh, at 11am today. Teams of volunteers will be taken out by gardaí to different search areas around the harbour.

“We want to find Mr Mielnik for the sake of his family,” said Supt Sheahan.

He said gardaí were liaising with Mr Mielnik’s family, who come from the city of Koszalin, in north-western Poland.

Gardaí are also anxious to locate the car, to see if a mechanical defect may have been responsible for it coming off the ferry.

The ferry was in mid-channel between Carrigaloe and Glenbrook when the accident happened.

The Garda’s underwater unit and naval divers continued to search the harbour yesterday.

The Celtic Voyager ship also gave assistance to the divers by using its sonar technology for a seabed search.

A spokesman said the naval service had committed 12 of its divers to yesterday’s search, upped from eight during the previous days.

“We concentrated our searches down river from the ferry terminal on the Monkstown side along to Ringaskiddy,” a naval service spokesman said.

Supt Sheahan has also appealed for people who own land adjoining the harbour to check it on a regular basis.

Last Monday, gardaí arrested the driver of the Volkswagen Polo for reckless endangerment.

He was subsequently released without charge and a file is to be prepared for the DPP.