Divers follow line of debris as search for missing fishermen enters ninth day

Divers searching for the final two missing crewmen of the Tit Bonhomme are following the line of debris scattered by the sunken vessel.

Yesterday’s recovery of a third crew member, father-of-two Wael Mohamad, 32, provided a boost to the ongoing search, now in its ninth day.

Mr Mohamad’s body was recovered from the sea bed in seven metres of water by John Kearney of the Baltimore Diving Centre and a team of four others.

The body was located towards the north-east end of Adam Island, within a few hundred metres of the wreck of the Tit Bonhomme, which hit the rocks in stormy weather at 6am on Sunday, January 15.

Mr Kearney, who spotted the fisherman’s body on the sea bed, said the crew was following a line of debris carried by the sea in a north-easterly direction from the wreck.

“It’s rocky on the bottom and there is a lot of kelp so you really need to cover your area well; it’s a big area to cover,” he said.

“I would say it is a couple of hundred metres from the wreck itself. It was a good distance away to the north-eastern side of where the Tit Bonhomme lies; there is a bit of sheltered water there.

“In the circumstances, it’s a very big area. It’s difficult to know where to look next but we are just following that line,” he added.

Mr Kearney operated the dive with a crew of four: Aodh O’Donnell, Union Hall-based skipper of the 40ft tug Neachtain, Pat O’Driscoll from Baltimore and Eamon Barry, a volunteer with the Seven Heads coastguard unit near Clonakilty. Bord Iascaigh Mhara representative Declan O’Donohue assisted the team.

The crew made the discovery at 9.45am and their rib spent more than an hour docked alongside the LE Niamh as liaison officers notified family members back in Union Hall.

Coastguard spokesman Gerard O’Flynn said: “We briefed both the Egyptian families and the Irish families, two of whom are left waiting on news; that’s perhaps the most difficult thing.

“It’s an emotional time for the families who are still waiting for news.”

Search conditions were favourable yesterday, a week after the sinking of the Tit Bonhomme.

“Conditions are at their best since the whole operation began.

“It’s a good day for searching on land; it’s good day for helicopters, visibility is good and there is a west-north-west wind, making conditions favourable for divers,” Mr O’Flynn added.

Aodh O’Donnell, who operates the tug boat Neachtain, said the recovery of a body is vitally important for a family.

“For the matter of closure for the family, they have got a loved one back and that is so important. It’s down to luck and hard effort.

“We had gotten permission from the Navy to dive in an area we wanted to check and we did so early on Sunday. Thankfully, we were successful,” he said.

John Kearney added: “It was a perfect time to recover someone.

“I think morale was getting low again and this was a great boost.

“It will keep the search continuing. We still have two people to look for and we are very conscious of that,” he said.

Family members of the Egyptian fishermen expressed their gratitude, Mr Kearney said, as he prepared to embark on a second dive in the same area at 3pm yesterday.

“I met some of the families and it’s good for them to have closure,” he added.

The crew hopes to conduct another dive mission in the same area this afternoon as Garda and Navy divers, foreshore and helicopter teams continue the search for missing skipper Michael Hayes and Egyptian crewman Saied Aly Eldin.