FATE SAVED SON

THE SON of one of the men who perished in the fishing tragedy off West Cork should have been aboard the ill-fated fishing vessel — but decided at the last minute to help a neighbouring farmer “save the hay”.

According to locals, Richard Harman’s son, William, would have been with his dad and his friends, Mike Schmidt, Wolfgang Schroder and Eddie Dzito, but for a promise he’d made to farmer Jimmy Whooley.

The two spent the evening in a field harvesting hay just 500 metres from where the tragedy occurred.