Father of 3 still missing in fishing trip tragedy

Hopes are fading that a missing father-of-three will be found alive after a fishing trip in Lough Ree turned to tragedy, claiming the life of his friend and leaving another man fighting for survival.

Family and friends gathered on the wind-battered shore of the lake in Co Westmeath yesterday as rescue teams battled wet and blustery conditions to locate one of the anglers who remains lost.

He is understood to be a married man from Portadown, Co Armagh, whose wife is expecting their fourth child. A second man from Armagh — named locally as David Warnock, 27 — died after being pulled ashore at Hodson Bay harbour on the lake yesterday.

A third man, aged 60, from Lurgan, remains in a critical condition in hospital after being pulled semi -conscious from the cold water.

They were part of a six-man expedition from the Portadown Pikers angling club who left Hodson Bay on two 15ft (4.6m) Dell Quay Dory flat-bottomed vessels around 3pm yesterday for a pike -fishing and camping trip.

Eye-witness Tommy Byrne, who watched the tragedy unfold as he worked on his camper van at the lough harbour, said a freak squall roared over the water shortly after the anglers set off towards Carna Bay. “It was pretty calm when they got going, but maybe about 45 minutes after they went my dogs got a bit spooked because there was a big squall out in the lake,” he said.

“The dogs jumped into the van, and there were hailstones and a big wind came round. Shortly after that one of the party came around and asked me if I saw the others. Bags were floating on the water and the alarm was raised at that stage.”

It is believed conditions worsened dramatically as one of the boats neared Yew Point.