Flooding hampers searches for missing men

THE flood disaster hampered two separate searches for missing men in Cork over the weekend.

Strong currents in the swollen river Lee made conditions extremely difficult for volunteers searching for a missing UCC student.

And emergency services were stretched dealing with the flood emergency at the weekend, making it difficult to mount a large-scale search for another man reported missing on Friday.

Friends of Breacon Mooney, 31, from Blarney Street, gathered in the city centre yesterday to begin searching for him.

He was last seen leaving the Crane Lane Bar at about 2.30am last Thursday morning. He had gone to the pub to watch the Irish versus France soccer match and was wearing a dark jacket, an Ireland scarf, blue jeans and brown shoes.

He is about 5’5” tall, of slim build and pale complexion, with short, wavy red hair.

Volunteers searching for missing UCC arts student Brían O Tuama persevered in difficult conditions over the weekend. The 19-year- old from Ballyvourney in Co Cork hasn’t been seen for almost 11 days.

Meanwhile, the three crew members of the Wexford inshore lifeboat that capsized yesterday morning were found safe and well.

The inshore RNLI boat is understood to have been on a regular exercise off Raven Point on the northern shore of Wexford Harbour.