Boy, 13, drowns after getting into difficulty in river swim

A TEENAGE boy drowned in the River Suir yesterday, while the body of an unidentified man was recovered from the River Blackwater near Fermoy.

Named locally as Dean Byrne, from Cashel in Co Tipperary, the 13-year-old boy was with two friends on the river outside the town when he got into trouble and was swept away by the current.

Despite a major search operation by the local emergency services and the rescue helicopter based in Waterford — whose crew found the boy when they got to the scene — he was pronounced dead after being brought to Waterford Regional Hospital.