Baltimore victim to be laid to rest as search continues

Large crowds attended a prayer service for Baltimore drowning victim Niamh O’Connor at her family home last night.

Today, the search for her missing boyfriend, Barry Davis Ryan, will continue.

The body of Ms O’Connor, aged 20, of Blossomgrove in Glanmire, will be removed from her home for requiem Mass at the Church of the Sacred Heart, Glounthaune, at 10am this morning, after which she will be buried at St Catherine’s Cemetery in Kilcully.

Ms O’Connor, alongside her boyfriend and his father, Barry Ryan, died when they entered the water near the Beacon at Baltimore last Tuesday evening.

Ms O’Connor, who is survived by her parents, Paul and Catherine, and younger sister, Clodagh, 17, was in the second year of a social science degree at University College Cork.

Many of her UCC friends attended the service last night, as did a large number of her extended family who are heavily involved in Sarsfield’s GAA Club.

As a mark of respect, UCC is flying its flags at half mast this weekend and is also offering counselling services to Ms O’Connor’s friends.

UCC flag at half-mast as we remember Niamh O'Connor. The Ryan family are also in our thoughts http://t.co/5TkI9JoM4x pic.twitter.com/Lp777WH9qT

— UCC Ireland (@UCC) July 2, 2015

Barry Ryan, 51, will be laid to rest tomorrow morning following a funeral service at the Sacred Heart Church in Rath, near Baltimore.

Search efforts for Barry Davis Ryan, a 21-year-old engineering student at Cork Institute of Technology, continued yesterday.

Despite fears deteriorating weather conditions would result in the search being significantly scaled back, naval service dive teams searched the eastern hole area near the Baltimore Beacon yesterday.

A shoreline search commenced at 8am involving members of the Irish Coast Guard and local Civil Defence volunteers. No dive searches took place in the morning due to freshening winds from the south.

However, dive searches did take place in the late morning and again in the afternoon, while the Coast Guard helicopter was also involved.

A spokesman for the coastguard said the shore searches would resume this morning for Barry Davis Ryan and, weather permitting, boats will take to the water to aid the operation.