Kayaker’s family tell of heartbreak as search goes on

The family of a young father who went missing while kayaking near his home five days ago have said it is impossible to find words to describe the dreadful sense of loss they are experiencing.

As the frantic search for 38-year-old Neilus O’Connor enters its fifth day, devastated relatives have conceded that the best they can now hope for is that his body will be returned to them. “We are absolutely heartbroken. We can’t find the right words to say exactly how we feel,” his uncle, Michael O’Connor, said yesterday.

“You see this happening to other people on television but when it comes to your own doorstep you don’t know what to do or say. Hopefully, we can bring his body back and give him a proper send-off.”

Neighbours and friends in the close-knit rural parish of Cromane, Co Kerry, where Neilus went missing early on Friday morning, have been comforting his devastated partner, Melissa Clifford, and their infant daughter Hannah, who is just 10 weeks old.

The missing man’s parents, Freddie and Noreen, his two sisters and four brothers, are also anxiously awaiting developments and taking turns to maintain a shoreline vigil at White Sands Lake where his upturned kayak and paddle were found on Friday morning.

Killorglin parish priest, Canon Michael Fleming, was supporting relatives at the scene yesterday and led prayers for a successful conclusion to the search.

Mr O’Connor’s family revealed last night that he had made a miracle recovery from a horrific road traffic accident six years ago that left him fighting for his life. His motorcycle was involved in a head-on collision with a car in his native Tralee.

“When he survived that against all the odds we were so relieved but little did we think this would happen just six years later,” said his uncle, who has joined in the lakeshore search at Cromane every day since Friday.